Dan Houser Reflects On His Time & Stress During The GTA 4 Development Cycle

It’s hard to fathom that Grand Theft Auto would ever be canceled. There’s certainly a lot of controversy surrounding each game when it launches into the marketplace. With each title being the focus of stepping into the role of a criminal, it naturally sparks attention from various news outlets and groups. However, there was a real fear from the development team when they were working on GTA 4.

Before the massive success of GTA 5, GTA 4 might have been the last game Rockstar Games would have worked on. That’s the fear that Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser had when he was in the middle of production. Things were not looking great personally for him, and on top of that, a big controversy had arisen, making the studio afraid that things would not pan out in their favor.

GTA 4 Development Cycle Was A Bit Grim

Dan Houser doesn’t give many interviews; however, the former co-founder of Rockstar Games sat down with Lex Fridman recently. Thanks to PC Gamer, we’re finding out that during the conversation, the topic of Grand Theft Auto IV came up. At that point in Dan’s life, he said there was a lot of personal drama going on.

It was a dark time, and Dan expressed that he wasn’t happy and was single. There was even a point where he wasn’t sure if staying in America would be in the cards. That all translated to a darker storyline for that particular installment of the beloved GTA series.

However, there was another notable component that made development somewhat problematic in terms of morale. If you recall, Rockstar Games took a hit when the Hot Coffee mod that unlocked a minigame in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was uncovered. It was essentially a minigame that played out a sex scene that became a real massive ordeal. Upon its discovery, the game was pulled from various store shelves. During that period, Dan felt that there was a good chance the studio would shutter during the middle of developing Grand Theft Auto IV.

Of course, that didn’t happen. Grand Theft Auto IV was released, and its successor, Grand Theft Auto V, dropped with a major splash. Records were broken with that game installment, and we expect the same to happen when Grand Theft Auto VI is released next year. That said, Dan is no longer affiliated with Rockstar Games, so we’re equally interested in seeing how well this game performs with the former co-founder no longer at the helm of its production.