10 Video Game Studios Probably Founded Out Of Spite

Dan Houser has always been a very private person so we don’t know exactly what led to his stepping away from Rockstar in March 2020. You’d be forgiven for assuming he had finally decided that his Scrooge McDuck style pile of money was big enough. But, after leaving Rockstar, Houser announced less than a year later that he had founded Absurd Venture Studios.

If you’ve ever wondered where the Grand Theft Auto titles ever got their personality, a lot of it is down to Houser who has served as a writer on almost every single game in the series.

Grand Theft Auto V is now over a decade old and in that time you have to wonder how itchy Houser’s creative brain must’ve gotten considering the only game that Rockstar have put out since has been Red Dead Redemption 2. With the ongoing churn of cash that GTA Online produced for ten years, there was no need to rush to craft a new mainline experience and thus Houser’s writing talents were largely unneeded for most of that time.

Absurd Venture is an interesting name for studio, and perhaps speaks to the fact that Houser could very easily retire if he wanted to, but feels the need to create. We’re working on assumption here but it’s very likely that that’s where Houser’s decision to leave Rockstar comes into play.