Rockstar founder Dan Houser seems to be setting up a new game studio

Dan Houser, the Rockstar Games founder who left his studio after twenty years, seems to have set up a new game studio. ‘Absurd Ventures in Games’ is based in the United Kingdom and, according to the local Chamber of Commerce, will make games.

The French Rockstar Magazine was one of the first to publish it discovered news. It company would if activity description include ‘designing computer games’, along with three more variants of it. However, the UK address is not where the studio is located; according to Video Games Chronicle a company is located at that address that provides ‘secretarial services’ for more than a thousand other companies at the same address. The new company also immediately acquired an American branch, located in Delaware. Houser is listed as the producer, creative director and corporate director of the company.

The word ‘ventures’ in the name of the company could mean that this is more of a company that invests in other game companies. That would be the case if house means ‘ventures’ to mean ‘venture capital’.

Dan Houser left Rockstar Games in March of 2020, but had been on “extended leave” since spring 2019. Dan Houser was heavily involved in his studio’s games. He had a major influence on games such as GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2. More than 150 million copies of those two games have now been delivered. Houser was involved in writing the screenplay for Red Dead Redemption 2, among other things. He said in 2018 that the writing team, including himself, worked hundred-hour weeks.

Dan Houser, his brother Sam and three others founded Rockstar Games in 1998. The studio is known for Grand Theft Auto, although that franchise started at DMA Design, which was acquired by Rockstar parent company Take-Two. Other well-known Rockstar games are Bully, Max Payne, Manhunt and Midnight Club.