Rockstarco-founder Dan Houser has been working on ventures beyond the studio for a while, and his planned sci-fi project has just landed a major AAA publisher. While the firstGrand Theft Autogame was made without Houser’s direct involvement, he became a key figure in writing later franchise entries,along withRed Dead Redemptionand more. After leaving the studio in 2020,Houser founded a new multimedia companycalled Absurd Ventures.
Per a press release available onPR Newswire,an upcoming “AAA, open-world, sci-fi action adventure game” from Absurd Ventures will be published by Smilegate. While Absurd Ventures is headquartered in California, Smilegate is a major South Korean game publisher. Smilegate is perhaps best known for the globally popularCrossfireFPS series, although the Smilegate MMORPGLost Arkmight be more familiar to North American fans.
Dan Houser’s Next Game Will Be Published By Smilegate
Lost Ark Publisher Has A Lot Of Credits
Details on the upcoming Absurd Ventures game are still sparse, butit takes place in the universe ofA BETTER PARADISE, which debuted as an audio fiction series. The monologue-heavy drama focuses on a failed video game project that houses an artificial intelligence, making it fairly far-removed from Houser’s popular projects at Rockstar.
While Smilegate has traditionally focused on projects developed in East Asia,the Absurd Ventures game won’t be its first venture into global publication of a Western game. Western developers have previously been involved in theCrossfireseries, andSkySasga: Infinite Isleswas a previous (and ultimately successful) example of publishing a game developed in England.
A Dan Houser Sci-Fi Game Could Be Great
TheA BETTER PARADISEaudio fiction series hasn’t made an enormous splash, but a video game set in that world could brandish a larger market appeal.Dan Houser’s track record at Rockstar was undeniably strong, and even if someGTAnarratives were all over the place, he’s certainly proven his capability at handling serious dramas throughgames likeRed Dead Redemption 2.
It’s harder to predict how Smilegate’s involvement will impact things, but hopefully, the publisher can provide the necessary scale of resources to bring an open-world, AAA vision to life. While ambitious games in new studio environments can often run into problems,a true AAA publisher should help.
Without more details to go on, Dan Houser’s sci-fi game isn’t likely to arrive any time soon, so this may be a rare situation ofGTA 6actually releasing before something. I’m curious to see what a modernGTAstory ends up looking likewithout his involvement, but farther down the line, I’m also interested to see what story theRockstarveteran ends up telling at Absurd Ventures.
