South Korean game publisher Smilegate made a strategic investment and became a partner of Absurd featsa game studio founded by the co-founder of Rockstar Games Dan Houser.
Houser spent more than 20 years at Rockstar Games and led the creative direction of the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption franchises, which have collectively sold more than 550 million units worldwide. (In theory, these are games worth about $33 billion.) Houser left Rockstar Games in 2020.
Through this agreement, Smilegate will have the opportunity to collaborate on Absurd Ventures’ new intellectual property, which has been in the works since Houser started the studio in 2021. I look forward to seeing the creative result of this combination, as Houser was part of a talented Rockstar team that has risen to the top of the video game industry. This is a test to see if it can do more of the same, this time with a South Korean giant behind it instead of Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive.
Another GTA veteran, Leslie Benzies (pictured below left), has also struck out on his own, leaving Rockstar and starting the Build A Rocket Boy studio, and is working with IO Interactive on a game called Mindseye and a larger game universe called Everywhere.
In a statement, Houser said: “This collaboration with Smilegate was born out of a mutual respect and philosophical alignment with founder (Hyuk-bin) Kwon, and the great passion he and his team bring to making AAA games. We both want to build interesting worlds and experiences for new players.
It’s a great opportunity for Smilegate, the maker of games like Crossfire and Lost Ark, to partner with Houser, who has creatively overseen globally successful IPs that are cultural touchstones and rooted in engaging storytelling.
Joonho Sung, CEO of Smilegate, said in a statement: “We are thrilled to partner with the developers behind world-renowned series that have millions of fans around the world. Together with Absurd Ventures, Smilegate aims to deliver games that gamers around the world will love. This partnership marks a key milestone in Smilegate’s journey to becoming a global intellectual property powerhouse.”
As the creative director and lead writer of Rockstar’s greatest games, Houser conceived indelibly rich world-building, captivating and sometimes heartbreaking stories, and created iconic characters such as
Tommy Vercetti, Arthur Morgan, Trevor Phillips and John Marston to name just a few.
Houser’s team at Absurd Ventures includes leaders and key talent from his time at Rockstar Games, as well as veteran game development executives who have worked on Call of Duty, Pokémon Go, and many other triple-A franchises.
Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, (with offices in Marin County, California), Absurd Ventures is currently working to build a bold new vision with several new IP universes across a range of mediums, including video games, live-action and TV and animated films, audio narrative podcasts, books, comics and more.
While Absurd Ventures’ video game projects are in the early stages of development, this year the team released a successful audio fiction series set in a new science fiction universe. The series, A Better Paradise, debuted at number one on Apple’s Fiction charts. And Absurd Ventures will also introduce its American Caper detective universe as an original comic series in 2025.
A third IP universe from Absurd Ventures will also be revealed soon. Smilegate is the creator of the hit Crossfire franchise, released in 2007 as a first-person shooter game, and has one billion registered players (eight million concurrent) in 80 countries. Lost Ark debuted in 2018 in South Korea across 160 countries and is still going strong with over 1.32 million concurrent players on Steam.
As part of this investment, Smilegate is steadily consolidating its position as a global powerhouse in the field of intellectual property. Smilegate and Absurd Ventures will each leverage the other’s strengths to create new and sustainable business opportunities.
Smilegate will benefit from Houser and his team’s proven narrative, triple-A game and business
expertise in the Western market, while Absurd will benefit from Smilegate’s expertise in the Asian market. The two companies will combine each other’s strengths in areas such as online/live service, given Smilegate’s success with Crossfire and Houser and its team’s experience overseeing the huge success of Grand Theft Auto Online.
Smilegate was advised by DLA Piper and Absurd Ventures was advised by Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks, PC on the transaction.
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