Rockstar Games co-founder and GTA head honcho Dan Houser is leaving the studio

Few things in life are permanent, unless you count death, taxes and the eternal scorn heaped upon my ideas for where to eat out at night, and you can count a career in video games on that list of jobs with a ticking clock attached next to them. Legends may come and go, but even the most notable names in the industry have called it a day at the studios where they made a name for themselves and have looked elsewhere for a new start in life.

One such name that’s doing the rounds today? None other than Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser, whose extended break from 2019 has now evolved into a proper departure. Having served as vice president at Rockstar Games for many a year, Houser’s final day with the company will be on March 11 when he says goodbye for good. Houser’s departure comes a few years after former Rockstar North president Leslie Benzies walked out of the company over issues dealing with allegedly unpaid royalties.

“After an extended break beginning in the spring of 2019, Dan Houser, Vice President, Creative at Rockstar Games, will be leaving the company,” Take Two Interactive said in a press release via Games Radar.

Dan Houser’s last day will be March 11, 2020. We are extremely grateful for his contributions. Rockstar Games has built some of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful game worlds, a global community of passionate fans and an incredibly talented team, which remains focused on current and future projects.

One half of the Houser brothers who rewrote the rulebook on video games with Grand Theft Auto 3 in 2001, Dan Houser’s legacy will be one of gigantic success with Rockstar’s other sandbox games, the monumental surge in popularity of GTA Online and the less than ideal crunch working conditions that put the studio in a negative spotlight just before the launch of Red Dead Redemption 2. With GTA 6 apparently in the works, it’ll be interesting to see what impact his departure has when Rockstar’s bread and butter franchise returns.

As for Dan? Maybe he’ll finally have a chance to go bowling.

Last Updated: February 5, 2020