#484 – Dan Houser: GTA, Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar, Absurd & Future of Gaming

The following is a conversation with Dan Hauser, a legendary video game creator, co-founder of Rockstar Games, and the creative force behind Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption series, which includes some of the best-selling games of all time and some of the greatest games of all time. Both Red Dead Redemption 1 and 2 has some of the deepest, most complex and heart-wrenching characters and storylines ever created in video games. Dan has started a new company, Absurd Ventures, great name, that is creating some uh incredible new worlds in multiple forms, including books, comic books, audio series, And yes, video games. That includes A Better Paradise, which is a dystopian near future world with a super intelligent AI, American Caper, which is an insanely chaotic, violent, dark, satirical world, and Absurdiverse, which is a comedic action-adventure world.

I'm excited to explore all three of these. I have spent hundreds of hours in worlds that Dan has helped create, so this conversation was an incredible honor for me. And on top of that, Dan and I talked a lot after and in the days since, and he has been Just a wonderful human being. I'm just at a loss of words.

I feel like the luckiest kid in the world. And now a quick few second mention we sponsor, check them out in the description or at lexfriedman.com slash sponsors. It's the best way to support this podcast. We got a lot of amazing sponsors. I haven't been doing too many podcasts, so please, please go support all of these sponsors.

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