Absurd Ventures Hires Former Ascendant Studios Staff To Form New Studio

Absurd Ventures is still relatively new. If you’re unfamiliar with the company, it is a new venture from Dan Houser. He was a key member of Rockstar Games before he left in 2020. A year later, Dan opened Absurd Ventures LLC, which will produce a variety of media, including video games and animation. However, today, we’re learning that Dan Houser’s company just added a new studio consisting of former Ascendant Studios employees.

Thanks to gamesindustry.biz we’re discovering today that Absurd Ventures launched a new studio called Absurd Marin. The company is set in San Rafael, California, and is led by former Ascendant Studios founder Bret Robbins. It’s noted by a statement provided to gamesindustry.biz, that the development studio only consists of about twenty developers right now who were previously attached to the Immortals of Aveum title. It was a game that didn’t hit the big expectations the studio was hopeful for and ultimately resulted in half of the staff being laid off.

Other details from the report include that the development studio is working on a brand new IP, which is described as a story-driven adventure title. However, beyond that, we’ll have to wait for Absurd Ventures and Absurd Marin to unveil what the developers are cooking up.

Dan Houser’s new venture is certainly attracting interest. After all, this individual helped write the storylines for the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption franchises for years. We might be waiting a while before we get any details about this new game from Absurd. However, a ton of attention has been paid to Dan Houser’s former employer.

Rockstar Games is preparing to release Grand Theft Auto VI. The game is currently set to launch sometime in 2025, and it’s likely to smash some records, much like its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto V.