Dan Houser’s Absurd Ventures is teasing some new projects including an animated series and an action-comedy adventure game.
“Prepare to meet some new kinds of heroes (and watch them suffer),” the company said in a statement. The news comes shortly after South Korean game developer and publisher Smilegate made a strategic investment and became a partner in Absurd Ventures, a game studio founded by Rockstar Games cofounder Dan Houser.
Houser spent more than 20 years at Rockstar games and drove the creative direction of the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption franchises, which have collectively sold more than 550 million units worldwide. (Theoretically, that’s about $33 billion worth of games). Houser left Rockstar Games in 2020.
Absurd Ventures will be introducing this universe with animation projects later this year. There is also an original story-driven action-comedy adventure game set in the Absurdaverse currently in development at Absurd Ventures studios.
And that’s all they’re saying at the moment. Absurd Ventures is an entertainment company creating new IP across all mediums including video games, live-action and animated TV, film, fiction podcasts, books, comic books and more.
Absurd Ventures’ original properties include the sci-fi thriller universe A Better Paradise, the crime fiction universe American Caper, and the comedy satire universe Absurdaverse. In a playbook that resembles that of The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, Absurd Ventures is testing ideas in various forms.
The company has already launched a chart-topping audio fiction series set in the “A Better Paradise” universe and will be debuting an American Caper comics series and Absurdaverse animation projects in 2025. Houser, Absurd Ventures is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, with additional studio offices in Marin county, California.