Why Dan Houser is staying away from GTA 6

Dan Houser helped turn Grand Theft Auto into what it is today. He has no plans to play the next one.

The Rockstar Games co-founder told Variety that he hasn’t seen GTA 6 and will likely avoid playing it. His reason is simple. He’s building his own open worlds right now, and he doesn’t want Rockstar’s in his head while he does it.

“I haven’t seen it yet,” Houser said of GTA 6. And he intends to keep it that way.

He’s keeping his distance on purpose

Houser left Rockstar in 2020. The studio is now led by his brother, Sam Houser, and Dan said he’s consciously avoiding keeping tabs on it. He knows little about GTA 6 (that’s by design) and doesn’t want his current work to be “influenced” by the game in any way.

That current work is two new open-world games he’s developing through his company, Absurd Ventures. Here’s how he explained steering clear:

“I haven’t seen GTA 6 yet and I’m going to try to avoid it because I always try to stay away from things that might influence me creatively. Since I spend a huge portion of my time trying to create open-world games, and the rest of my time trying to find innovative ways to push them forward, I don’t need to see what others are doing. I’m constantly trying to think of new ways to do things rather than sitting there comparing what I would have done differently.”

He barely plays open-world games at all

Before you file this under sibling drama, know that Houser said it isn’t about Rockstar or GTA 6 specifically. It’s a general philosophy. He rarely plays open-world games, period.

“When I play, I feel like I can analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the team that made it in real-time, and that distracts me… I start thinking: the animation team isn’t that strong, but the game design is excellent. I’m not a game designer; I’m more of a creative director. So I’m always trying to find new things that have never been done before…”

That’s a creative director’s brain that won’t switch off. His team monitors industry trends, Houser said. He personally does not.

No Westerns for Red Dead, no Sopranos for GTA

The habit goes way back. When development on Red Dead Redemption began, Houser stopped watching Westerns. He only watched The Sopranos after leaving Rockstar.

“I’d only seen one episode. Until then, I hadn’t seen any of the show. I finished it during COVID. And I’m actually grateful for that. It’s such a great series that if I had watched it back then, it would have influenced everything I did in GTA. That’s why I really try to avoid things that I believe could overly influence me.”

Sit with that for a second. The guy writing crime stories for GTA kept Tony Soprano at arm’s length on purpose, right up until he was out the door.

Why his absence carries weight

Houser was the driving force behind the writing and production of GTA III, Vice City, San Andreas, GTA IV and GTA V, plus Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2.

Calling him “a writer” undersells it. He was one of the architects of the Rockstar identity: the satirical lens on society, the dark humor, the complex characters and the sprawling open worlds with narratives that mirror cinematic productions.

All of that DNA is baked into whatever GTA 6 turns out to be. And one of the people who wrote it will be somewhere else, building his own worlds, with his eyes deliberately turned away.