Dan Houser, who served as lead writer on nearly every Grand Theft Auto game, has confirmed he will not play GTA 6 and is not even watching the trailers. His decision is not driven by any bad blood with Rockstar Games, but by a desire to protect his own creative process.
Avoiding creative influence
Houser, who was one of the main creative forces behind the modern GTA series and served as lead writer and creative director on most 3D games until his departure in 2020, explained that he is avoiding anything related to the new title. He does not want to be influenced by its ideas, inadvertently or otherwise.
‘I will try and avoid it because I always try and avoid stuff that’s going to distract or disrupt me creatively,’ Houser told Variety. ‘And given that I spend a large amount of time trying to make open world games, and the rest of my conscious time trying to figure out innovative ways to market them, I don’t need to see what other people are [doing].’
‘I’m always trying to think about new ways of doing it, not sit there in some kind of comparison of what I would have done differently.’
Current work at Absurd Ventures
Houser is currently working at Absurd Ventures, a studio he founded in 2021, which has two open world video games in production. He noted that he has a team of people whose job is to keep up with the latest trends, so he does not need to monitor the competition himself.
This is not a new approach for Houser. He admitted he stopped watching Western movies during his work on Red Dead Redemption, a decision that did not hinder the success of that game or its sequel.
Marketing ramp-up for GTA 6
With GTA 6 roughly a month away, fans remain eager for new information or footage. Recent ratings listings have referenced sex scenes and cocaine usage as gameplay mechanics, and a photo of an alleged American TV schedule shared on Reddit suggests a new television ad for the game may air soon. The original post was deleted but was re-uploaded by another user.
While there is no guarantee the ad will feature new footage, and it may not be long, it indicates that marketing for GTA 6 is beginning to intensify. Publisher Take-Two has described pre-orders as ‘unprecedented’, and it is estimated the game could earn half as much in a week as GTA 5 has made in its lifetime.
