GTA creator Dan Houser, a co-founder of Rockstar Games, famously left the company in early 2020 after a twenty-two-year career. The following year, he founded a new company called Absurd Ventures, which has so far released a podcast series, a graphic novel, and a novel, with games also in development.
Houser, who wrote all Rockstar videogames from GTA London: 1969 to Red Dead Redemption 2, was recently featured in a massive, nearly three-hour-long video interview on the Lex Fridman podcast. As you'd imagine with such a lengthy conversation, it spanned a myriad of topics, from games to films to the process of creating game characters. Out of all of them, the writer picked Niko Bellic, the Serbian immigrant who served as the protagonist of GTA IV, as his favorite.
I think he's the most innovative and the most morally defensible in some ways. He does a lot of stuff where he's fighting for what's right. He's the nicest person in some ways. Is he the best protagonist of a GTA game? I think he's the most innovative protagonist of a GTA game. Structurally, he might be too nice in some ways. He's also tough. I loved CJ in San Andreas. I thought Maylay did such… Just the way he spoke gave him such humanity. It wasn't the writing, it was the quality of the voice acting, it was just so strong for him.
I think aspects of Michael, he was so understated, but the actor loved the character, he brought so much humanity to this character who's so flawed, who has no principles. He sells everyone out. I think Ned Luke did such an amazing job and didn't necessarily get as many plaudits as Steven Ogg for Trevor, who was also wonderful. But I think the Ned Luke character anchors that game so much. So I like all of them in different ways, but I probably love Niko the most.
Regarding the secret of the GTA series, Dan Houser said that the fact that the games did not come out as often was a factor in their success, driving anticipation which, in turn, drives sales for the next installment. Indeed, he predicts that Grand Theft Auto VI (which he didn't write for) will sell 'really well' when it comes out next year on May 26, 2026. Of course, there's also the aspect of Rockstar constantly trying to innovate and push the boundaries of the medium forward.
The GTA creator also commented on the rise of generative AI and large language models (LLMs) in particular, saying he's not too worried as they are unable to come up with 'magic' and will most likely be relegated to making decent, cheap stuff.
Based on my fairly limited understanding of how language models work, they're not going to replace good ideas. They can't really come up with good new ideas. What they can do is do low-level stuff. So I think it's going to be harder for people to start out in some of these spaces. If you're not a very good concept artist, you're in a lot of trouble. If you have original ideas, I think you're fine. But I also think that they've done the first 90% of the work to sound human, 95% possibly in some areas. The last 5% is going to end up being about 95% of the work. I think that last bit with tech, in my experience with things like facial animation, it's always been the last bits and pieces that take far longer than the first bit.
And so I'm probably a hideous Luddite, but I'm less scared than a lot of people. I think you're going to end up with a lot of work that looks the same. It's going to help people be creative in some ways. It's going to get some people who probably shouldn't be in that space out of that space. But if you've got talent, I think it'll be fine. I don't think they're going to come up with magic. I think they're going to be fantastic at coming up with really cheap, decent stuff.
On that note, one of his new settings, A Better Paradise, is a near-future dystopia where Houser explores characters such as a conflicted, semi-sociopathic AI named Nigel Dave, which knows everything but lacks wisdom of its own and envies the human experience. Houser confirmed that a game based on A Better Paradise is in early development at Absurd Ventures' Santa Monica studio. Moreover, an open world videogame based on a third setting, Absurdaverse, is also in the works but will take a few years before it's ready.
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