Interview
Dan Houser: GTA, Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar, Absurd & Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #484
- The new entity Absurd Ventures aims to build the "Absurdiverse" comedic action-adventure franchise across books, comics, audio series, and an open-world video game, with animated TV or movies included as loosely adjacent stories.
- Development of the Absurdiverse game is projected to require a timeline of two to four years, while the companion "A Better Paradise" project remains in early development in Santa Monica with a team currently delivering high-quality work.
- Future game strategies at Absurd Ventures prioritize open-world single-player titles as a foundation for launching new IP, though the inclusion of multiplayer components remains under consideration.
- AI is anticipated to serve as a development tool for future projects, offering significant potential if applied correctly but posing a risk of generating "loads of generic stuff" through improper usage.
- The medium of video games is predicted to surpass film as the dominant story-telling format, with games becoming increasingly diverse and creatively interesting over time.
- Grand Theft Auto 6 is expected to potentially exceed GTA 5's sales records, set in a 2020s version of Vice City to satirize modern American culture through its duality of a glossy surface and dark underworld.
- The "American Caper" comic book series is wrapping issue 10 of a 12-issue arc, utilizing a one-year turnaround time for content production compared to the four to five years typically required for game development.
- Certain film and game development cycles are forecasted to extend over 10-plus years from initial idea to full completion.
- Satirizing current events faces a risk of becoming obsolete because the rapid pace of real-world absurdity since 2015 means released content may reflect outdated scenarios where the satire becomes reality by the time of release.
- A desire exists to revisit the "Gavin" mystery from Red Dead Redemption in a future title to resolve whether the character was deceased or had abandoned previous connections, while the original narrative structure required players to continue as a different character to maintain narrative compulsion.
- A previously abandoned "GTA zombie game" DLC, roughly half-completed for GTA 5, is noted as a concept that could have been successful had it been finalized.
- Creating an open-world spy game is viewed as conceptually difficult due to the inherent conflict between the open-world's lack of time pressure and the necessary geopolitical urgency required to save the world.
- Single-player games are identified as a core strength for the new company, considered essential for successfully launching a new intellectual property before introducing multiplayer elements.