Dan Houser, co-founder of Rockstar Games and notable creative director for the Grand Theft Auto series, has revealed that he doesn’t play many open-world games, including GTA 6, for a significant creative reason. He aims to avoid outside influences while working on his new projects at Absurd Ventures.
Houser explained, “Given that I spend a large amount of time trying to make open-world games… I don’t need to see what other people are doing.” He emphasizes a focus on innovative game design rather than comparing his work to others. For instance, during his work on Red Dead Redemption, he refrained from watching Westerns to maintain his creative independence.
He shared that analyzing other games can be distracting: “I can almost deconstruct the strengths and weaknesses of the team in real time,” making it difficult for him to engage with the medium purely as a player. Currently, Absurd Ventures is developing two new games, following the release of its graphic novel series, American Caper.
