Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser has confirmed he is avoiding seeing any gameplay videos of the studio’s highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 to benefit his own projects. The release of Grand Theft Auto 6 is shaping up to be one of the biggest events in gaming history.
Rockstar has pulled out all the stops to get fans excited about the newest entry in the Grand Theft Auto franchise. Grand Theft Auto 6 was first officially announced by the studio in late 2023 and became an instant sensation, with its early trailers breaking multiple records on YouTube. The anticipation from fans even saw Rockstar partner with Netflix for an exclusive premiere of GTA 6‘s Extended Look trailer, airing it on the streaming platform six hours before it was uploaded to Rockstar’s YouTube channel. Now, one of Rockstar’s co-founders stated he is avoiding gameplay from the next GTA entirely.
Dan Houser is Actively Avoiding GTA 6 Gameplay
During an interview on a Variety podcast, Dan Houser revealed that he is currently avoiding watching gameplay footage from GTA 6 ahead of launch. Houser shared that avoiding outside influences is a practice he uses regularly when working on game projects, not wanting to draw too much from other similar media. The Rockstar co-founder explained that he avoided watching The Sopranos entirely when working on previous Grand Theft Auto games, and stopped watching Western movies when working on Red Dead Redemption. Houser is currently working on two undisclosed open-world games with his studio, Absurd Ventures.
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In the interview, Houser also commented on how his games, and many others in the genre, will inevitably be compared to Grand Theft Auto. The GTA series has cemented itself as one of the premier open-world franchises, offering a wide variety of activities and an expansive urban world to explore. GTA helped to pioneer its genre and led to a plethora of other franchises with similar concepts gaining popularity, including games like Cyberpunk 2077 and the Saints Row franchise. Titles like Neverness to Everness and Ananta have even been directly compared to the series, often referred to as “anime GTA” games.
While Dan Houser has avoided letting GTA 6 influence his own projects, other developers have chosen to avoid launching around the game’s release date. The announcement of GTA 6‘s November 19 release date saw many studios shift around their release dates, both indie games and major developers, in an attempt to avoid competing with the game. Microsoft even pushed the release of its upcoming Fable reboot into February 2027 to avoid the “chaotic” holiday season, which is expected to be dominated by GTA 6, though the studio did not directly reference GTA.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is primed to be a smash hit for Rockstar, with plenty of exciting features coming to the game. The franchise’s long-awaited return to Vice City will expand far beyond the Miami-inspired city itself, letting players explore the map of Leonida. GTA 6 will introduce a wide variety of new side activities for players to enjoy within the game, including new sports, such as basketball and mini-golf, as well as more extreme activities like scuba diving and parachuting. Rockstar is set to revolutionize open-world gaming once again with the launch of GTA 6 in November.
- Released
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November 19, 2026
- ESRB
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Rating Pending – Likely Mature 17+