Dan Houser's Absurd Ventures sets two transmedia projects for 2024
Earlier this year, Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser set up a new transmedia company dubbed Absurd Ventures. Months after that announcement, the studio has revealed it's locked in two projects (and "universes") to release next year.
The first is American Caper, a graphic novel drawn by DC Comics artist Simon Bisley and a presently unrevealed writer. Absurd describes it as a story of two regular American families caught up in a world of "corrupt business, inept politics and bungling crime."
Absurd's other project is an audio fiction series set in the near future called A Better Paradise. The 12-episode show has been deemed an "existential suspense thriller," though the company provided no other information beyond its co-production partnership with QCode Media.
While not games like many would likely expect from the game industry veteran, Absurd Ventures' mission statement is to release products that span across multiple mediums. Making triple-A games can be notoriously expensive, so graphic novels and podcasts can (theoretically) be a less costly debut for new, unproven properties.
Both projects come days after the discovery that Absurd added more Rockstar alums to its stable. Earlier in the week, it was reported that Lazlow Jones and Michael Unsworth had joined in the respective roles of executive producer and story/creative management head.
At Rockstar, Jones was production co-chair and wrote for the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption games, along with Bully and the Max Payne trilogy. Unsworth, who departed this past summer, wrote for the later GTA sequels and Red Dead games, plus LA Noire and Max Payne 3.
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