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Dan Houser Teases Two Absurd Ventures Games: Open-World Comedy and Dystopian Sci-Fi

Dan Houser’s Absurd Ventures is preparing two distinct games: an open-world comedy tied to Absurdaverse and a dystopian sci-fi project tied to A Better Paradise.

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Dan Houser, the Rockstar Games co-founder who now leads Absurd Ventures, says the studio is preparing to share more about two games: an open-world comedy focused on comedy and character memory, and a dystopian science-fiction story about a disastrous video-game project and a rogue sentient AI. Houser said more information on the comedy game would arrive “in the next few months,” but gave no exact date. Neither game has a confirmed final title, platform, release date, or price.

Who is making the games?

They are Absurd Ventures projects, not games announced by Rockstar Games. Houser co-founded Rockstar before founding Absurd Ventures. In an interview with The Guardian, he discussed both the comedy universe Absurdaverse and the science-fiction story world A Better Paradise.

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What are the two games about?

Project Genre and tone Fictional world Stated hook
Open-world comedy Comedy Associated with Absurdaverse; the game’s final title is not confirmed. Comedy and character memory.
Dystopian science fiction Dystopian sci-fi Associated with A Better Paradise. A video-game development goes badly wrong, and a rogue AI becomes sentient.

The descriptions come from Houser’s remarks on Variety’s Strictly Business podcast, reported by Insider Gaming. He described the comedy project as an open world intended to lean into comedy and character memory. The Guardian has described Absurdaverse as a comedy universe and the game as a “living sitcom”; Houser also characterized it as mechanics-driven, with an aim to combine accessibility and depth. Those comments do not establish specific gameplay systems.

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The second project has a darker premise. Houser described a video-game development that goes very wrong, involving a rogue AI that discovers sentience. In his account, the AI was made by two people who disliked each other, and it dislikes itself as a result. The premise belongs to the sci-fi project; it is separate from the comedy game’s character-memory concept.

How does the A Better Paradise game connect to the earlier story?

A Better Paradise began as a 12-part story podcast released in 2024, according to The Guardian, and was also developed as a novel. Absurd Ventures is working on an open-world game version of that story world. An earlier Lex Fridman interview transcript records Houser describing the game as being in early development in Santa Monica at the time of that interview. That is an earlier status update, not a current development schedule.

When will Houser reveal more?

The reported timing is relative, not a scheduled announcement. Houser said the comedy game would have more information “in the next few months,” as reported on October 2, 2026. His statement does not give a calendar date, and the report does not provide an equivalent reveal window for the dystopian sci-fi game.

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What is still unconfirmed?

The available statements describe the concepts, but do not establish either game’s final title, platforms, release date or window, price, or a detailed gameplay reveal. Absurdaverse and A Better Paradise name the associated story worlds; they should not be treated as confirmed final game titles.

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