Two New A Better Paradise Games Are in Development, but No Release Date Is Set

In an SDCC interview with IGN, former Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser revealed that his new studio, Absurd Ventures, is working on two game projects that may tie into the sci-fi universe A Better Paradise. That is the only hard detail: no genre, platform, or release date was announced. Houser told IGN players will only see how the games connect once they start playing.

Absurd Ventures is not treating this as a conventional game-first reveal. It has already built A Better Paradise into a cross-media property—audio-fiction podcast, novel, and wider fictional universe—before putting a controller in anyone’s hands. The setting circles technology, humanity’s future, and artificial intelligence. The story is set in the near future and follows 马克·泰伯恩博士, an inventor and psychologist leading an immersive digital-world project built to create addictive virtual experiences. When the advanced software starts producing anomalies, his team unravels, the project is abandoned, and a super-intelligent AI is left hidden in the dark. Houser’s suggestion is that the games will hide their ties to that lore; the connections only surface once you’re playing, rather than through a straight retelling.

The only concrete project so far is the previously reported partnership between Absurd Ventures and Korean publisher Smilegate to build a AAA open-world sci-fi action-adventure game inside the A Better Paradise universe. That is one game; Houser’s “two games” comment implies a second title whose shape is still unknown. Until the studio announces genres, platforms, or release windows, the slate is a plan on paper, not a release calendar.

Houser’s name is still shorthand for GTA-style long-form storytelling, open-world pacing, and big casts. But branding is not a design document. Without confirmed platforms, gameplay systems, or a launch date, calling these projects guaranteed successors to that legacy is premature.

This is an IP-first play rather than the usual game-then-spinoffs route. If you want context, Houser suggests reading the novel or listening to the audio fiction first. The real test comes only when Absurd Ventures reveals a genre, shows footage, and proves whatever design it has actually delivers.