Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser quit after GTA and Red Dead drained him: ‘They were beyond any imagining’

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Dan Houser, co-founder and former creative lead at Rockstar Games, explains he left the studio after the immense workload of GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 left him exhausted. His comments emerge as Rockstar delays GTA 6 to 19 November 2026, spotlighting the pressure behind major game productions.

Dan Houser, co-founder and former creative lead at Rockstar Games, explains he left the studio after the immense workload of GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 left him exhausted.

Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser has spoken openly about the reasons behind his 2020 departure, explaining that the sheer size and intensity of the studio’s recent projects left him drained. In a conversation with BBC Radio 4, reported by GamesRadar, Houser reflected on the immense workload required to deliver Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2.

He said the scale of the studio’s last two major releases was “beyond any imagining” and noted that he had been fortunate to collaborate with “incredibly talented people” during his time there. Houser described his role as “piggybacking off their vast brains” in order to help create something special, but admitted that the vastness of these productions came with a heavy personal cost.

“A tough journey” defined by thousands of moving parts

Houser explained that the production process grew more challenging with each project. He said the games were “really long and tough” to make and pointed to the staggering workload involved, including “450,000 lines of dialogue” and an equivalent amount of other content. He described the development cycle as a “huge production experience” with countless components that had to fit together perfectly.

According to Houser, leading projects of this size “swallows all of your time for many years at a time”. He admitted that the commitment required to deliver open-world blockbusters at Rockstar’s scale left him unsure whether he “had another one of those games” in him.

GTA 6 delayed to 19 November 2026

His reflections come at a moment when Rockstar has confirmed a new release date for Grand Theft Auto 6. The game will now arrive on 19 November 2026, extending a wait that already stretches 13 years beyond the launch of GTA 5. The delay has reignited comparisons with Duke Nukem Forever, which took more than fourteen years to reach shelves and still holds the Guinness World Record for the longest development cycle in gaming.

A reminder of the human cost behind giant franchises

Houser’s comments, paired with the lengthy road to GTA 6, highlight the extraordinary demands placed on developers creating some of the industry’s most ambitious titles. With GTA Online and Red Dead Online requiring ongoing support long after launch, the pressure has grown even heavier.