Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser’s new company is creating an “open world action-adventure”

Absurd Ventures, the media company established by Rockstar Games co-founder and creative director Dan Houser following his departure from the Grand Theft Auto developer in 2020, is working on an “open world action-adventure”.

Absurd Ventures was formally unveiled last June, with a mission statement of “building narrative worlds, creating characters, and writing stories for a diverse variety of genres” across mediums including of live-action, animation, games, books, graphic novels, and scripted podcasts.

November bought news of Absurd Ventures’ first two projects, American Caper and A Better Paradise. At the time the company referred to them as two “universes” that would begin as a graphic novel and podcast respectively before expanding across a “wide range of formats and platforms”. Both are due to release at some point this year.

And now, a new job listing on the Santa Monica company’s website has confirmed it’s also working on an “open world action-adventure game” that’s aiming to deliver “best-in-class combat and third-person action across multiple game modes.”

It’s not clear if the game will be based on one of Absurd Ventures’ previously announced universes, or something new. But it’s likely still very early days for the project, given the company’s careers page reveals it’s currently looking to fill a number of high-level roles, including art director, senior art director, lead designer, lead gameplay designer, senior producer, senior technical director, and technical director.

As confirmed toward the end of last year, Rockstar’s former vice president of writing Michael Unsworth – who co-wrote both Red Dead Redemption games, and has contributed dialogue to the likes of LA Noire, GTA 4, and GTA 5 – has joined Houser at Absurd Ventures. Former Rockstar writer and producer Lazlow Jones is also onboard, serving as an executive producer.