Archive · 30 Nov 2025
Rockstar Co-Founder Dan Houser Quits After GTA and Red Dead Redemption 2
Dan Houser, who helped start Rockstar Games, recently talked about why he left the company.
He said making big games like Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 was very hard work.
These games had so much to do, like 450,000 lines of dialogue, and took a lot of time.
Dan felt tired after working on them for many years.
He is not sure if he could do another big game like that again.
Right now, Rockstar is working on Grand Theft Auto 6, which will come out on 19 November 2026.
That's a long time after the last big GTA game.
Dan Houser, co-founder of Rockstar Games, left in 2020 due to the intense workload of GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2.
The games required 450,000 lines of dialogue and a massive amount of other content.
Houser described the development process as a 'huge production experience' with countless components.
He admitted that the commitment required left him unsure if he could handle another such project.
Rockstar has delayed GTA 6 to 19 November 2026, reigniting comparisons with Duke Nukem Forever's long development cycle.
- Who
- Dan Houser, co-founder of Rockstar Games
- What
- Dan Houser's departure from Rockstar Games due to the intense workload of GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2
- When
- Houser left in 2020; GTA 6 is delayed to 19 November 2026
- Where
- Rockstar Games
- Why
- The scale and intensity of the projects left him drained
- Co-Founder
- Dan Houser
- Games
- Grand Theft Auto 5, Red Dead Redemption 2
- Dialogue Lines
- 450,000
- Departure Year
- 2020
- GTA 6 Release Date
- 19 November 2026
- Development Cycle Comparison
- Duke Nukem Forever
