r/rockstar • u/JimLaheyIsADrunkBast • 13d ago
Media Not every day you get the honour of chatting with the head honcho himself, Sam Houser.
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u/Mean_Rent_2156 13d ago
Bro met John Rockstar
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u/Ken_Sanne 13d ago
He actually accepted to take a Picture ? That's awesome
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u/JimLaheyIsADrunkBast 13d ago
Yeah man, he was honestly the nicest guy. Had a 5 minute or so chat with him
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u/Ok_Solid_Copy 13d ago
you gotta tell us more about that random encounter
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u/GameRollGTA 13d ago
Oh my??? No way??
I’m very very jealous, please tell us what you guys talked about
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u/Nienazki 13d ago
Are you a Rockstar employer that met Sam Houser during office christmas party?
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u/JimLaheyIsADrunkBast 13d ago
I am not, just a fan who was lucky to be in the same place at the same time
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u/NihonBiku 12d ago
Random story:
I used to work for R* and worked on GTA IV. During a playtest we had most of our studio in a giant Death Match and some big wigs were playing too.
A car full of players came screaming around the corner and I shot an RPG at them.
My delight of timing such a well placed shot turned to a painful wince as I saw the names floating above each player in the car:
D.Houser
S.Houser
...and the name of the President and Producer of my R* studio.
Of course everyone can see I just obliterated a sedan filled with the top brass and I can hear people making jokes about how I just signed my termination papers and so on.
Wasn't long before a Lead came around the corner and told me to go easy on them.
Next time I came head to head with a Houser in a Deathmatch I specifically recall putting on a show of trying to kill him but ultimately letting him kill me.
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12d ago
You worked on the greatest GTA to date in the 2000s. What a fantastic time to be alive for you.
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u/AdmiralSkeret 12d ago
Some of the happiest moments of my childhood was GTA IV online, chilling at the airport, trying to get a chopper without getting whacked. You my guy, was a part of that and helped make that happen. Thank you.
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u/NihonBiku 12d ago
Nice! That's awesome!
During play testing I was always the guy that went for the chopper too. The other guys in the studio would be half way through the match and realize I'm not there and they'd be like: "Oh...he's gone for a Chopper again." then a minute later I'd show up and try strafing everyone.
When we were working on the Episodes DLC for GTA IV one of the Leads came over and told me about the "Airwolf" update (referencing the old TV show) I was so excited, and shortly afterwards the Chopper got the upgraded guns that had more punch. (Followed by the Buzzard Heli in TBOGT)
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u/astro5887 13d ago
This is awesome man. From what we know, he's incredibly elusive. I bet you'll cherish this forever.
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u/ValorieCurry 13d ago edited 13d ago
You don’t know how much I’d pay to have a 5 minute conversation with him. People dream to meet Ronaldo, Messi, LeBron James. Instead of that I dream to meet who made my afternoons with his entertainment products
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u/TriggerHydrant 13d ago
This man has seen some shit
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u/Specific_Lunch_5063 13d ago
He already knows the full story of gta 6
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u/TriggerHydrant 13d ago
Imagine going all the way back to founding Rockstar Games to today, wild shit
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u/sixpumppain 13d ago
Out of curiosity, what did you guys talk about relating to Rockstar? I’m not trying to get some kind of GTA 6 stuff out of you (not that you’d know), but more curious because I haven’t been crazy about the boring live-service games direction Rockstar has gone in this last decade.
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u/FaZeSasuki 13d ago
rockstar hasnt gone in any live service direction. is just takes 5-7 years to create a big game and thats standard for any advanced game.
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u/sixpumppain 13d ago
Why not give V any single-player DLC content? Same for Red Dead.
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u/ZephyrDoesArts 13d ago
Because Online DLCs are easier to make and market, last longer, keep people playing and have been profitable for the past ten years lol
We should accept Rockstar is not going to do Single Player DLC anymore as much as it pains me, but I think a possibility could be to create a Paid Single Player DLC that also adds big content to Online (for Free, the paid section would only be for Single Player) with stuff like Map Expansions, for example... Or at least to implement GTA 6 Online content in Single Player, as a minimum ffs.
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u/eremal 13d ago
Two questions, two answers:
(This is at best educated guesses, take it as complete speculation)Why not give V any single-player DLC content?
Because GTA Onlne. No, not that R* saw it was going to be a cash cow and decided to go greed.
GTA Online at launch was an afterthought, a complete shitshow in terms of bugs and network issues, and a complete crash landing. R* moved all resources over to try to save it.
Heists was teased to be there shortly after launch but it wasnt released until 2015, 1,5 years later.
Since everything went into saving GTA:O the singleplayer DLCs were scrapped, and what was done was later salvaged into GTA:O updates.
Same for Red Dead.
Here, the answer is two-fold.
R* went through some major changes during mid-2010s. Particularly that Leslie Benzies, and later Dan Houser, left the company. Leslie Benzies departure was a shitshow that ended with a huge lawsuit. Leslie strikes me as extremely talented, but as with most very talented creatives they can become very difficult to work with due to their passion and personality. Ultimatly taking up too much space and becoming a liability. I believe this is what happened with Leslie. Faced with a crisis such as the GTA:O launch, they simply had to get him out of the office, and I assume the Housers, especially Sam, felt like they were cleaning up Leslie's mess - which turned out to be a gold mine once cleaned up. His new company is making a very ambitions game (everywhere), and I would not be suprised if it turns into the same "shitshow-turned goldmine" thing that Leslie is known for. Either that or it crashes and burns. Such is the life of extremely talented creatives.
Dan on the other side I believe left more as a passion thing. Not much is known, but from the outside it looks like he left to work on smaller projects that differ from the R* franchises. His new company, absurd ventures, is taking a whole different approach to story-telling in terms of game franchises. Without having indulged (there are no games yet), it looks quite interesting. I'm curious to see how this turns out.
Now for the second fold: "Project Americas" aka GTA6. Project Americas was the codename of what was supposed to be GTA6 back in 2018/2019. It was headed for a launch in the early 2020's, but ended up being rebooted sometime around 2019/2020. Coincidentally the same time Dan Houser took his sabattical. I think Project Americas ended up being too ambitious - the rumors state that it was supposed to be featuring several parts of the south of US as well as parts of South America. I don't think that current platforms would be able to deliver a "R* world" of that size. So it was scrapped and turned into what is going to be GTAVI, as well as parts being salvaged for GTAO. This "whole of US" GTA game is something I've heard talks about all the way back to the GTA3-days, and thats definetly something I expect we will see some day, but not this iteration. Instead the vision was scaled down into something more "within reach" - an iteration upon GTAV, maybe even a leap, but not a giant "mission to mars".
All in all these answers can be summed up into one: The reasons why we havent seen anything from Rockstar in 6 years, is because of internal turmoil that needed to be settled. A company that after 20 years of delivering great games needed a step back to find its future. I am personally very excited to see what GTA6 turns into, especially considering Leslie and Dan is out. How does the "new" R* organisation with only Sam at the wheel differ from what we have seen before. Will there even be any difference?
Anyway thats the reasons why theres havent been SP DLCs for GTAV or RDR2. R* been busy. And not with Online.
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u/AdShoddy897 12d ago
It was rebooted due to covid, was supposed to launch in 2020 for the PS4 alongside the PS5 however due to the pandemic, everyone was forced to be at home, and when the PS5 launched R* saw how quickly it sold out everywhere so they did what they have always wanted to do—they went full out on the game, not being limited by the likes of the PS4 like they were with GTA 5 and the PS3 & X360 (since it would be illogical to release GTA 6 for the PS4 and be limited by it if everyone has a PS5), and with that the release date was pushed back nearly 6 years (if it gets delayed, otherwise 5) but in return look at the masterpiece we're getting thanks to covid.
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u/VictorGuerra_ 11d ago
Bro, look at this quickly snapped photo. Do you think he had time to talk? At most, he talked for a few seconds, just thanking them for GTA and all.
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u/therealabdia 13d ago
I’m glad you got to speak to the icon himself, that’s like winning the lottery!
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u/StuartLugsden 13d ago edited 13d ago
Man you are one lucky guy. I would kill to meet him and Dan so I could thank them for their catalogue which made up part of my childhood. I have a better chance at meeting Bigfoot than seeing Sam in public or at an event.
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u/carlwinslo 13d ago
Did he show you Grandfather Theft Auto? Because it may as well be called that since anyone that's excited for it will be atleast 70 by the time it comes out.
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u/Channel57 13d ago
Dude! This is awesome! I would love to meet him. I'm so happy for that you had that experience bro.
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u/Effective_Voice6939 13d ago
Thought that was Jeffery dean morgan
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u/iloveeeeemycat 12d ago
Why is it that almost every time someone tries to take a photo with a famous person, they get Parkinsons
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u/VictorGuerra_ 11d ago
So this is the guy holding back GTA 6 information out of anger at the community (leaks, unwanted news)?
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u/KenseiLover 10d ago
Yo your name Jack G by any chance?
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u/JimLaheyIsADrunkBast 10d ago
Nope, why’s that?
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u/KenseiLover 10d ago
Just thought I recognised you; palled about with someone who looks like you in Scotland a few years ago!
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u/FireIceMetal 13d ago
You should have seldomly asked him about the game. His reaction and response would have told you something.
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u/GingerBanditDan 13d ago
Shouldve asked him why they just gave up on RDO.
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u/JimLaheyIsADrunkBast 13d ago
Nah, I instead thanked him for the amazing memories me and my best friend made in RDO!
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u/KralizecProphet 12d ago
Did you ask him why did the studio opt to outsource the "remasters" of the very games which made them what they are now, effectively spitting on their own legacy? I would have asked him that very question if I had the chance.
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u/Royal_Associate562 10d ago
maybe you want to put some effort in developing and updating rdo? or you just care abt the money?
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u/BlackAfroUchiha 13d ago
Seeing San Houser in public is the equivalence of spotting Bigfoot in the wild.
It must have been insane meeting the man behind some of the greatest games ever.