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Dan Houser's Absurd Ventures builds an open-world comedy around character memory
Dan Houser says Absurd Ventures is developing two untitled games, an open-world comedy built on character memory and a sci-fi story about a rogue AI. More on the comedy is due within months, Houser said, and of the two pitches it is the one that names something players can test.
The Product Desk · Product desk
What happened
- Houser formally launched Absurd Ventures in 2023, three years after leaving Rockstar Games, the studio he co-founded and served as head writer.
- Houser and longtime writing partner Jeffrey "Lazlow" Jones, also ex-Rockstar, are building Absurd's IP around three worlds: A Better Paradise, American Caper and the Absurdaverse.
- Houser said he relies on people on his team to keep up with the latest games and trends, since that has never been his job at any company.
- Grand Theft Auto VI launches Nov. 19, the first game in the series made without Houser.
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Why it matters
- exposure With comedy details promised within a few months, Absurd's first concrete game reveal is likely to land near the GTA VI launch and be judged against the first GTA made without Houser.
- constraint Character memory is a systems feature, and Houser says he is a creative director, not a designer, so whether it works rests on the team he relies on more than on his name.
- decision Players or partners weighing Absurd as a games company have no title to track for either project, so the comedy reveal is the earliest point a commitment can attach to a named product.
A listener who finished this week's episode of Variety's "Strictly Business" podcast and wanted to try Dan Houser's new work could start right away, as long as the work they wanted was not a game. Absurd Ventures is currently rolling out graphic novels and comics, fiction podcasts, books and animated series, according to Variety [7]. The games are the planned part [7].
The plan, in Variety's words, is "a full transmedia experience" in each Houser-created property [7]. It assumes fans will follow one world from one format to the next. Variety's report does not include readership or listener figures [7], so the public record cannot show whether they do. Houser's stated goal is modest. He said the aim is to "see if there's anything interesting we can say with new IP" [12].
The two game descriptions are different kinds of statement. The comedy, Houser said, "is trying to really lean into comedy and character memory" [3]. Character memory is a feature claim. If it means what it sounds like, characters keep track of what the player did to them, and a player can check that once the game is in hand. The sci-fi game is about "a rogue AI that discovered sentience," he said, and "it was made by two people that didn't like each other, so it doesn't like itself" [4]. It is a funny setup for a story. The player's role in it is still to be described.
A feature claim needs someone to build it. "I'm not a game designer, I'm a sort of creative director," Houser said [10]. He said he now plays few open-world games because "I can almost deconstruct the strengths and weaknesses of the team in real time and it's distracting" [9].
On the comparison with his Rockstar work, he was unsure. "In terms of will I always be compared to it? I don't know," Houser said [13]. He added that he hopes some of Absurd's work "is going to be successful in its own right" [14].
Anyone reading the description of an unreleased product, whether it comes from a studio or a software vendor, can sort it with two tests. The first is whether the description names something a user could check. The second is whether it comes with a date for more detail. Put the two on a 2x2 and Houser's games land in opposite corners. The rogue AI game has a premise and an open timeline [4]. The comedy has a checkable feature and a window of the next few months [3], and it can be held to the phrase "character memory" when those details arrive.
What to watch
- The comedy details Houser said are due in the next few months, and whether they show characters remembering player actions in footage or only in description.
- Titles, platforms and release windows for either game.
- Which of Absurd's three announced worlds each game belongs to.