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- Dan Houser says he left Rockstar Games due to the long and tough development cycles.
- He stated that he was fatigued after so many years and couldn’t continue like that.
- He later found another studio, Absurd Ventures, which is set to release a novel soon.
It is no secret that AAA game development is a long and cumbersome process. Games can take years and years to complete, which at times puts a lot of pressure on developers, leading to burnout and exhaustion.
Rockstar co-founder says he left the company because of this, as GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 took so many years to develop. He doesn’t think he has any more of those games in him, so he left the studio.
Why it matters: Developing major AAA titles means you are bound to them for so many years, and you’re locked out of anything else. This wasn’t something the Rockstar co-founder wanted to continue.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Dan Houser went candid about the reasons he left Rockstar Games in 2020. That was a big moment for the studio, as Houser is credited for almost every title the studio has ever released.
The scale of the last couple (GTA 5 and RDR 2) was beyond any imagining. The projects take a long time to make. I don’t know if I had another one of those games in me.
– Dan Houser
He stated that the scale of GTA 5 and RDR 2 was beyond their imagination. He added that he leveraged the talents of many people during development, which was why he stayed at the studio for so long.
However, he was fatigued by the cycle and didn’t have the energy to do more. After leaving, Houser founded a new studio, Absurd Ventures, which is set to release a new novel, A Better Paradise, next year.
Houser did make the right call in the end, as GTA 6 has now been in development for 13 years, which goes against his ideology, but considering how pivotal he has been in all projects, we hope GTA 6 captures the same magic.
What are your thoughts on the Rockstar founder leaving the studio due to lengthy development cycles? Let us know your opinions in the comments or join the discussion at the official Tech4Gamers Forum.
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News Reporter
Abdullah is an avid gamer who primarily plays single-player titles. If you can’t find him anywhere, he’ll probably be at his desk playing The Witcher 3 for the millionth time. When he isn’t playing games, he’s either reading or writing about them.
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