{
  "id": 11505820,
  "title": "Ex-Rockstar Boss Dan Houser Doesn't Play a Lot of Open-World Games – and Doesn't Plan to Play GTA 6",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/02/ex-rockstar-boss-dan-houser-doesnt-play-a-lot-of-open-world-games-and",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-02T18:10:29.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "IGN",
    "slug": "ign",
    "url": "https://www.ign.com/articles/ex-rockstar-boss-dan-houser-doesnt-play-a-lot-of-open-world-games-and-doesnt-plan-to-play-gta-6"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Dan Houser, the ex-co-boss of Rockstar Games and former creative director on the Grand Theft Auto series, rarely plays open-world games and has no intention of playing Grand Theft Auto 6. This is a deliberate decision to prevent external influence on his new game projects at Absurd Ventures. Houser explained that as he spends much of his time creating open-world games, he consciously avoids seeing what others are doing to stay innovative. He cited his approach during the creation of Red Dead Redemption, where he avoided watching Westerns or The Sopranos during development, to prevent any potential distraction. Houser emphasized his role in not being the person who understands what others are doing within companies, as he aims to think of new ways to approach game design.",
  "summary": "Dan Houser, the former co-boss of Rockstar Games and former creative director on the Grand Theft Auto series, doesn't play a lot of open-world games. And he doesn't plan on playing GTA 6 either. But it's for a good creative reason: he doesn't want to be influenced by them as he works on his two new game projects at his new enterprise, Absurd Ventures.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}