What Dan Houser Is Working On: A Book, a Comic, and Video Games

After the departure of Dan Houser, co-founder and vice president of Rockstar Games, key writer and one of the most important people behind the development of the Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead, and other game series, he founded a new company in 2021. Absurd Ventures main franchises were presented last year, and this year they will be revealed even further through several new products.

Book

A year ago, the premiere of the first season of the narrative podcast A Better Paradise came to an end. It consisted of 12 episodes, each nearly an hour long. You can listen to it on major platforms: Apple Podcast, Spotify, Amazon Music.

Now, the story — which tells of the development of a video game in the near future that goes very differently from how it was supposed to — will be released in print. Dan Houser’s book A Better Paradise Volume One: An Aftermath will be published on October 14, priced at $29 (hardcover) and $15 (ebook). Pre-orders are already available at: Amazon, Target, and Bookshop.org. From the title and the structure of the audio show, it’s clear that a continuation will follow.

Comic

The world of American Caper is yet to be introduced. That will happen on November 12, when the first issue (of 12) of the comic written by the younger Houser goes on sale. Another R* veteran — Lazlow — also contributed to the writing. By the way, during a recent presentation, he was asked if he would appear in GTA 6, to which he replied with uncertainty. In addition to these two, nearly a dozen more people worked on the project, responsible for the artwork, coloring, lettering — all the things that make a comic a comic. The publisher is Dark Horse Comics, the third largest in the industry after Marvel and DC. You’ll be able to buy it for $5 in local (U.S.) comic shops.

The events take place in the small town of Verona, Wyoming. The cast features true American heroes: a gambling-addicted lawyer, a Mormon hitman, a reactionary housewife, a fugitive Mexican beauty queen, a Wall Street billionaire turned cowboy, and a revenge-obsessed maniac.

Video games

One of them is called Aburdaverse. On the official website, there is a dedicated section with the note: “The first stories coming 2025”. These will initially be animated series.

The second will be a AAA title set in the same A Better Paradise universe. It is described as an open-world sci-fi action adventure. The developer and publisher will be the Korean company Smilegate, which has already invested in Dan Houser’s studio before.