Dan Houser, co-founder of Rockstar Games and one of the masterminds behind the GTA series, has officially started a new media company called Absurd Ventures. It will focus on creating new IP across various formats.
Absurd Ventures, which was registered in the UK in June 2021, began its operation today with its main office in Santa Monica, California. The company already has an official website that invites users to register in exchange for future announcements and exclusive content (or, as the frank description puts it, “for unwarranted spam, bad offers, and poor marketing”).
“We are building Absurd Ventures to create new universes and to tell great stories, wherever and however we can,” Dan Houser said in a press release.
— Absurd Ventures (@AbsurdVentures) June 15, 2023
The company will focus on building narrative worlds and creating stories without regard to a specific medium. It wants to produce new IP for video games, graphic novels, podcasts, live-action films, animation, and books.
Absurd Ventures also released a teaser, with its description reading, “Storytelling. Philanthropy. Ultraviolence.” This is pretty much all the details Houser and his new venture have disclosed so far.
In the 90s, Dan Houser started his career at BMG Interactive, which was acquired by Take-Two Interactive in 1998. Following the deal, he and his brother Sam Houser were at the origins of a new subsidiary called Rockstar Games.
The brothers have served as creative leads for every key title created by the studio. Dan Houser is credited as the writer of the entire Grand Theft Auto series, including its grand commercial colossus GTA V. The last project he worked on was Red Dead Redemption 2.
In February 2020, Dan Houser stepped down as VP, Creative at Rockstar Games, while Sam Houser remained as the company’s president.