Ex-GTA Boss Dan Houser's Studio Absurd Ventures Will Kick Off Two Multimedia Projects In 2024

Absurd Ventures, the multimedia studio founded by former GTA boss Dan Houser, has announced two new intellectual properties. American Caper is family-centered crime drama and A Better Paradise is a thriller set in the near future.

American Caper centers on two ordinary American families in a world of crime and corruption, perhaps more Coen Brothers than The Godfather. It will debut as a graphic novel, with art from Simon Bisley, a storied artist who has worked on Lobo and ABC Warriors.

Details on A Better Paradise are a little scarcer. Set in the not-too-distant future, the IP is an "existential suspense thriller." Presumably some horror or sci-fi or horror-sci-fi schnanigans are afoot. A Better Paradise will debut as a 12-episode audio series, co-produced by Q-CODE media.

Absurd Ventures was founded in 2021, a year after Houser left Rockstar. In June of this year, more details about the studio emerged, namely the studio's ambitions to craft works across a variety of mediums. Both these IPs may cross over to video games at some point, but Absurd Ventures was always intended to create broader multimedia projects. Future will include animation, video games, and more graphic novels and audio fiction.

Houser said in a press release, "We are excited to introduce these two universes, and their characters and lore. They represent our approach to storytelling and media. These initial releases will allow us to introduce these universes at the same time as we are working on other iterations and expansions. This is just the beginning."