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Rockstar founder Dan Houser leaves company

Dan Houser, co-founder of Rockstar, will be departing the studio on March 11th, leaving doubts over the state of GTA VI.

Not many gaming studios have enjoyed the monumental success that Rockstar has since it was founded in 1998. Having developed the Grand Theft Auto series, Red Dead RedemptionMax Payne, and Bully, the company has become one of the most prolific and profitable in the industry.

This year will see some shake up internally, however, as Dan Houser has announced he will be leaving on March 11th, 2020, following an extended break last year. This will come as big news for fans, particularly those anticipating GTA’s next instalment, as Dan was a co-founder, lead writer, and creative influence on a number of top Rockstar projects.

Rockstar’s parent company Take-Two announced the news to investors on Tuesday, though they made it clear that Dan’s brother Sam Houser, who is the other co-founder, will remain.

If you’ve ever found yourself staying up late on GTA robbing people, taking cars, and involving yourself in other questionable practices, then you’ve got Dan Houser to thank. He has been a big player in GTA’s narrative and tonal focus since the beginning, basing many of the series’ most well known locations and characters on classic cult movies and New York street films.

Dan’s deliberately playful and satirical storylines have been wildly successful. GTA remains the most profitable franchise in video game history and has earned around £4.6 billion since it began. As well as GTA, Dan also worked on Red Dead Redemption as a lead writer, earning equal amounts of praise for his detailed and emotional stories involving John Marston and Arthur Morgan.

Dan isn’t the first to leave Rockstar in recent years. Former lead designer and president of Rockstar North, Les Benzies, also quit in 2016. The real question now is whether or not these staff changes will affect the sixth GTA game, which we still have no information on, or any real indication as to what it might include. Rockstar may not even be developing the title – though that’s unlikely.

Rumours are continuing to grow however, and given that the next generation of consoles is just around the corner, we may get some kind of reveal either this year or next. All we know is that Dan won’t be writing this time around – for better or worse.

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