Co-founder of Rockstar fears that the game industry will focus on money

Dan Houser, co-founder of Rockstar Games and main creative force behind the Grand Theft Auto franchise, stated that there is "always this danger" of the gaming industry becoming "excessively focused on making money". The comment was made on Channel 4's Sunday Brunch program, where Houser was promoting his newly released novel.

Questioned by presenters Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer about the future of games, Houser pondered: "Just like in everything, it can go to a really interesting place, or to a place that becomes excessively focused on making money."

He added: "I think there's always that danger in any form of commercial art that they get distracted by money. But I still think there's a big creative ceiling to create these living narrative experiences." The designer believes that the future will have "two paths", where "creative expression" and "money pursuit" "both win", a phenomenon already observed in the industry.

Houser's observation about the excessive focus on profit resonates with the current issues of the industry, including years of brutal layoffs, the prioritization of monetization in big-budget games, and the growing enthusiasm of executives to defend the use of generative AI in development.

It is notable that Rockstar, the company that Houser helped found, created a franchise that Wikipedia classifies as the fifth best-selling of all time, generating billions in value. However, unlike companies like Activision with Call of Duty, Rockstar maintains a clear creative vision and does not release Grand Theft Autos annually.

Despite the creative legacy, Rockstar has recently faced criticism about its behavior towards employees. The studio was accused by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) of the "most ruthless union busting in UK gaming industry history" after laying off between 30 and 40 employees who were part of a private union chat group on Discord. Rockstar is facing protests outside its office in Edinburgh and legal action from the IWGB, who see the layoffs as "victimization and collective dismissal linked to union activity".