Rockstar Games co-founder and writer of almost all the Grand Theft Auto games released to date, Dan Houser, has confirmed that he had no involvement in GTA 6, but insisted the game’s story will be “great,” even though it’s “not going to be a story I wrote or a character set that I developed.”
“I think it’s a great privilege to have worked on something that big. I wrote the last 10 or 11 of them, [so] I think the world probably had enough GTA from me,” Houser said in an exclusive interview with IGN on Saturday, September 27, at LA Comic Con.
“It’s not going to be a story that I wrote or a character set that I developed. I think it’s going to be exciting. The game will be great, I’m sure.”
Dan Houser also wrote Red Dead Redemption 2, and in the same interview, he told IGN that “Red Dead 2, I think, was the best thing that I worked on. [It’s] the best single kind of realization of open-world storytelling thematic consistency, and understanding how the games are assembled to take you on an emotional journey.”
“I also think GTA 4 [is one of his favorite games],” he added, “because we did try and evolve how we did the storytelling and did it in a fundamental way. I think the middle section of GTA 5 is amazing. When we got the three characters working… I think it was not flawless, but it was so smooth, that middle section. I thought that was really amazing. And then the end of Red Dead 1. Those are my favorite bits.”
Houser also recently explained why we never got Bully 2, chalking the issue up to “bandwidth issues.” “You know, if you’ve got a small lead creative team, and a small senior leadership crew, you just can’t do all the projects you want,” he admitted.
Development of GTA 6 began “in earnest” right around the time Houser left in 2020 following the success of Red Dead Redemption 2. It was originally slated to release in 2025, but suffered a high-profile delay from fall 2025 to May 26, 2026. In a statement issued at the time, Rockstar apologized for the significant delay, saying: “We are very sorry that this is later than you expected.”
Houser is currently at Absurd Ventures, the company he started up after leaving Rockstar. His new crime fiction comic series, American Caper, will be released on November 12, 2025, with the first arc comprising 12 issues. While we don’t yet know what games the team is working on, we do know that last September, a group of around 20 developers formerly of Ascendant Studios — including its former CEO — joined Houser’s Absurd Ventures to form a new studio in San Rafael, California: Absurd Marin.
The release of GTA 6 Trailer 2 and Rockstar’s accompanying info-dump has sparked all sorts of speculation about what to expect from what is sure to be the biggest video game of all time. While we wait to find out, we’ve got plenty more on GTA 6, including all the details we’ve discovered so far, a roundup of 70 brand new screenshots, and the expert opinion on how GTA 6 will look on PS5 Pro.
One person unaffected by the GTA 6 hype is Grand Theft Auto 5’s Trevor. Actor Steven Ogg recently said he feels “absolutely nothing” inside for GTA 6 — even though Rockstar has suggested it will be the biggest video game of all time.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
