GTA VI Forum | Log in | Register
Home > Archive > Sam and Dan Houser at Rockstar: the documented record

Sam and Dan Houser at Rockstar: the documented record

What filings, Rockstar statements and named press reports actually say about Sam and Dan Houser's roles at Rockstar, from 1998 to Dan's 2020 exit.

By GTA VI Forum Desk - Published Oct 11, 2026 - 8 min read

This page sets out what Take-Two filings, Rockstar statements and named press outlets have put on the record about Sam and Dan Houser's roles at Rockstar, and it says where that record runs out.

One finding sums up the gap. A full-text search of the SEC filings of Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar's parent (the SEC's search covers 2001 onward), finds the name "Houser" in exactly two documents: one from May 2011 and one from February 2020.

At a glance

Sam HouserDan Houser
Role at RockstarCo-founder (VGC, 2020)Co-founder (VGC, 2020). "Vice President, Creative" per Take-Two's 2020 8-K
Founded Rockstar1998, with Dan, Terry Donovan and Jamie King (VGC)Same
Named in Take-Two filings2011 contract renewal2011 contract renewal; 2020 departure
Status as of Oct 11 2026No filing or Rockstar statement we found reports a changeLeft Rockstar; last day Mar 11 2020. Founded Absurd Ventures (VGC, 2025)

What is counted, and how

Primary first. Take-Two filings are quoted as filed. Rockstar's founding year comes from Rockstar itself: its website footer reads "MCMXCVIII" and "1998". Sam Houser's November 2023 statement, as reported by Gematsu on Nov 8 2023, said: "Next month marks the 25th anniversary of Rockstar Games." November 2023 plus one month is December 2023, and 25 years before that is December 1998. That is our basis for dating the founding to December 1998.

Press, named. Roles and writing credits not in filings come from VGC (Feb 4 2020 and Sep 29 2025) and Game Developer. We attribute each one.

The writing count. VGC's 2025 report says Dan wrote 12 Grand Theft Auto games, from London 1969 to GTA V. Counting Rockstar-published GTA releases over that span gives a higher number. London 1969, London 1961, GTA 2, III, Vice City, Advance, San Andreas, Liberty City Stories, Vice City Stories, GTA IV, The Lost and Damned, The Ballad of Gay Tony, Chinatown Wars and GTA V make 14. Rockstar's site lists Digital Eclipse as the developer of GTA Advance. We do not know which two titles VGC left out, so we print its figure as its figure.

Left out on purpose. Birth dates and family details. Pre-Rockstar careers, which we could only find in an uncited reference biography. Working conditions, studio culture and staff numbers, which fall outside a documented-roles page. Personal finances. Litigation between Take-Two and Leslie Benzies, the former president of a Rockstar subsidiary, is recorded here only by its dates: Take-Two's May 2016 10-K says Take-Two filed an action on Apr 11 2016, and its May 2019 10-K says all the matters, pending since April 2016, were resolved on Feb 7 2019. We do not describe the claims or the terms.

Advertisement

How Rockstar started

Take-Two's fiscal 1998 10-K records the deal that made Rockstar possible. In March 1998 Take-Two bought "substantially all of the assets of BMG Interactive Group", including the worldwide publishing rights to Grand Theft Auto. By the next annual report, filed in January 2000, Take-Two was publishing under a "Rockstar Games" label. It described Rockstar as its console label aimed at the youth market, working with "popular and emerging recording artists" on game soundtracks. VGC names the co-founders as Sam Houser, Dan Houser, Terry Donovan and Jamie King. Rockstar's own statements date the company to 1998.

When Dan Houser received a BAFTA fellowship on Rockstar's behalf at the 2014 awards, VGC reported, he said: "Back in 1998 we began shouting this to whoever would listen."

The roles, as reported

Dan Houser. Take-Two's filing gives his title as Vice President, Creative. VGC's 2020 report says he had "written or co-written almost all of the games" in the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption series, and had overseen virtually all of Rockstar's games for 20 years. VGC's 2025 report adds Midnight Club: Los Angeles and Red Dead Online. The Smilegate press release of Aug 6 2025 calls him the former creative director and lead writer of the GTA and Red Dead Redemption franchises.

Sam Houser. Public records say less about Sam's day-to-day role than about Dan's. He signed the November 2023 statement that announced GTA VI's first trailer. When Dan's exit was announced, Take-Two told GamesIndustry.biz that Sam's "role at Rockstar will remain unchanged," according to VGC.

Together. Both brothers appeared on Time magazine's 2009 Time 100 list, reported Game Developer on May 4 2009. The tribute was written by Matt Selman of The Simpsons. In May 2011 Take-Two said "Sam Houser, Dan Houser and Leslie Benzies, key members of the creative team of Rockstar Games" had renewed their long-term employment agreements "on substantially similar economic terms". It is the only Take-Two filing we found that names Sam.

The Houser-era record, dated

Every row has a primary source unless marked.

DateEventSource
Mar 1998Take-Two buys BMG Interactive's assets, including GTA rightsTake-Two FY1998 10-K
Dec 1998Rockstar Games founded (date derived from the 25th-anniversary statement)Rockstar site; Sam Houser statement via Gematsu
Apr 6 1999GTA: London 1969, the start of Dan's GTA writing per VGCRockstar game page; VGC 2025
Oct 22 2001Grand Theft Auto IIIRockstar game page
Oct 27 2002GTA: Vice CityRockstar game page
Oct 26 2004GTA: San AndreasRockstar game page
Apr 29 2008GTA IVRockstar game page
May 4 2009Game Developer reports both brothers on the 2009 Time 100Game Developer (press)
May 24 2011Take-Two says Sam, Dan and Leslie Benzies renewed their contractsTake-Two release (8-K exhibit)
Sep 17 2013GTA V, the last GTA in Dan's writing run per VGCTake-Two FY2014 10-K
Oct 1 2013GTA Online launchesTake-Two FY2014 10-K
2014Dan receives a BAFTA fellowship on Rockstar's behalfVGC (press)
Spring 2019Dan begins an extended breakTake-Two 8-K
Feb 4 2020Take-Two files an 8-K saying Dan "will be leaving the company"Take-Two 8-K
Mar 11 2020Dan's last dayTake-Two 8-K
Nov 8 2023Sam Houser's statement marks 25 years and announces GTA VI's first trailerGematsu (press, quoting Rockstar)

From GTA III to GTA V, five full-size console GTA games came out in about 12 years (Oct 22 2001 to Sep 17 2013, 4,348 days). Gaps between them, release date to release date: 370 days, about 12 months (III to Vice City); 730 days, about 24 months (to San Andreas); 1,281 days, about 42 months (to GTA IV); and 1,967 days, about 65 months (to GTA V).

The 2020 departure

Take-Two's 8-K of Feb 4 2020 is short. In its words: "After an extended break beginning in the spring of 2019, Dan Houser, Vice President, Creative at Rockstar Games, will be leaving the company." It gives his last day as March 11, 2020, and adds: "We are extremely grateful for his contributions." The filing gives no reason, and we do not offer one.

VGC reports that Dan Houser left Rockstar in 2020 to form Absurd Ventures. On Aug 6 2025 the Korean publisher Smilegate said it would publish an open-world game from the company set in its A Better Paradise universe, written and creative-directed by Houser, with a novelization slated for October 2025. In an IGN interview reported by VGC on Sep 29 2025, he said: "Red Dead 2, I think, was the best thing that I worked on."

What has not changed on the record is Sam's position. We found no filing or Rockstar statement reporting a change to his role through Oct 11 2026. With GTA VI due on Nov 19 2026, it will be the first numbered Grand Theft Auto released since Dan Houser left Rockstar.

Trivia

  • Rockstar's website footer gives the founding year in Roman numerals: MCMXCVIII.
  • Take-Two's January 2000 annual report, its first to describe the Rockstar label, does not name any of the founders.
  • The 2011 contract renewal sat in a results release next to news of L.A. Noire and Duke Nukem Forever.

Related: Rockstar North history, GTA V, GTA sales history.

Sources

More from the archive