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Dan Houser, former Rockstar Games writer and co-founder who left the company in 2020, is deliberately avoiding watching Grand Theft Auto 6. Speaking on Variety's Strictly Business podcast, he stated he has not seen the expanded presentation from Netflix and prefers to keep his mind clean to prevent external choices from conditioning his creativity.
Houser clarified that this avoidance is not due to personal spite toward his brother Sam Houser, who remains at Rockstar. Instead, he focuses his time on designing open worlds and discovering fresh concepts, noting that playing similar titles often leads him to analyze industry peers rather than enjoy the experience.
While steering clear of comparisons, Houser and former colleague Lazlow Jones are developing two new games at Absurd Ventures. One project is an open-world comedy emphasizing character memory and humor, while the other features a dystopian science fiction setting involving sentient artificial intelligence and creators who disliked each other.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is scheduled to arrive on November 19 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series, marking the first time a main game in the franchise will launch without Dan Houser's direct involvement.
