GTA 6 Co-Founder Dan Houser Confirms Reason for Leaving R...

GTA 6 Studio Co-Founder Dan Houser Officially Reveals Why He Left Rockstar Raul Bautista in GTA 6

By Nicholas Becher Published 5 minutes ago Nicholas Becher is a gaming journalist with an MFA in Creative Writing from FAU. With extensive experience playing video games, he covers all forms of gaming content at Screen Rant, from breaking news to the latest fan theories. Most-played games range from Clair Obscur to Civ to Elden Ring to Halo 2 and beyond. Sign in to your ScreenRant account Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap

After a wild year for Grand Theft Auto 6 fans mired in controversy, with multiple release date delays, accusations of union-busting against Rockstar Games, and more, speculation about what's going on behind the scenes at GTA 6 and Rockstar is at an all-time high.

Recently, those rumors have included speculation that Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser's reported reasons for leaving the company were not entirely true, and that there was in fact a conflict between him and his brother about the direction of the company that caused him to leave.

In response to these rumors on a BBC Front Row episode promoting his debut novel, Dan Houser claims his real reason for leaving Rockstar was "because the projects are long and tough and take a long time to make." His comments suggest the departure had nothing to do with a conflict with his brother and was entirely due to the stress that comes alongside making a massive game like GTA 6.

Dan Houser Officially Confirms Why He Left Rockstar Games

Speculation around Dan Houser's real reason for leaving Rockstar Games in 2020 has been circulating after a recent appearance on Lex Friedman's podcast. After offering somewhat of a non-answer to his reason for leaving, rumors started proliferating that there was a deeper conflict between Dan and Sam Houser over disagreements about the company's future.

Largely, these rumors were fueled by the recent union-busting claims against Rockstar and a long history of alleged poor working conditions that include excessive work hours and overtime.

Houser doesn't outright address these rumors, but does offer up a reason for leaving the company related to the toll it takes on developers. Houser says, "It can be a tough journey getting things at that scale with that many moving parts finished ... [it] swallows all of your time for many years at a time and I didn't know if I had another one of those games in me."

GTA 6 Is Still Nearly A Year Away

With GTA 6's release date being pushed back to November 2026, it's hard to imagine what the next year will bring. 2025 has already been a roller-coaster ride, with players getting a disappointing delay, getting hyped for a May 2026 release, then getting disappointed again with another delay to November 2026.

Rockstar is under immense pressure to deliver something groundbreaking with GTA 6, and rumors about turmoil at the company have players feeling very nervous about the future of the game. Rumors that Dan Houser left because of conflict behind the scenes have raised fears even more, and his recent comments don't necessarily dispel any rumors that there was a disagreement with his brother Sam.

Ultimately, if one thing is clear from Houser's comments, it's that production on Grand Theft Auto 6 is incredibly taxing on its developers, and it doesn't bode well in terms of accusations of poor working conditions at Rockstar.

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OpenCritic Reviews Released November, 2026 ESRB Rating Pending - Likely Mature 17+ Developer(s) Rockstar Games Publisher(s) Rockstar Games Engine Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE) Multiplayer Online Multiplayer Prequel(s) Grand Theft Auto 5

Genre(s) Action, Adventure Powered by Expand Collapse

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Grand Theft Auto VI
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