Dan Houser opens up about Red Dead Redemption 2’s rocky development, calling it behind schedule, massively over budget, and full of pressure to prove doubters wrong.
Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser has opened up about just how stressful it was to make Red Dead Redemption 2, describing the project as “behind schedule” and “over budget so much I didn’t want to think about it.“
Speaking on the latest episode of the Lex Fridman Podcast, Houser admitted that creating Rockstar’s 2018 Western epic wasn’t all smooth sailing, especially in its later stages when doubts were high and deadlines were slipping.
“I think with Red Dead 2, we were behind schedule. We were over budget so much I didn’t want to think about it,” he said. “And you’re making a game about a cowboy dying of TB, and the game’s not coming together. Turns out a lot of people doubt you at that moment, you know, it’s not that fun. So I think that was a lot of pressure.”
Houser’s words shed light on the kind of pressure Rockstar’s team was under during RDR2’s production, a game that went on to become one of the most critically acclaimed titles of all time. Despite its success, it’s clear that the road there was rough.
A game about “people searching for meaning amongst the violence”
Earlier in the same interview, Houser described the setting of Red Dead as a place where people are “searching for meaning amongst the violence,” adding that the Western genre gave them the room to tell a mythic, emotional story that a modern-day setting couldn’t easily deliver.
He also praised the team’s dedication to realism, from the horse animations to the way Arthur Morgan’s body changes over time, calling those details a reflection of how deeply the developers cared.
“I think that the West and all of the themes around the West really lend themselves to that. And then the gunplay was fantastic, and the horses were incredible. So I think you had this combination of technical know-how, a very, very strong team, and really strong material.”
In related news, Rockstar Games has reportedly terminated around 40 employees across its UK and Canada offices this week. Those who were let go were allegedly part of union organising efforts, and a trade union has accused the studio of “union-busting.”
Since leaving Rockstar Games, Dan Houser founded Absurd Ventures, a studio that’s working on its first AAA open‐world sci-fi action-adventure game set in its original “A Better Paradise” universe, in partnership with publisher Smilegate.
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