GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption writer seemingly leaves Rockstar after 16 years

According to reports, VP of writing at Rockstar Games, Michael Unsworth has left the company after 16 years.

[Redgrave]

It stands to reason if we'll ever get other games from R* now that a lot of who made R* the powerhouse they are today have left.

Stuff like L.A Noire or anything that isn't live service GTA.

[neutralgamer1992]

Dan Houser leaving the studio he and his brother basically built up was really telling of where R* is. And those who left have started their own studios so it’s not like they left the industry

Take Two became too big and becoming that big means GREED and SUITS making decisions. GTA6 is the next test to see if R* still has it. Take two gas so much money yet they did so poorly with GTA Trilogy and RDR porting. Also I don’t think we will ever get any smaller titles from R* again

They will just release 2 games within a decent. No more bully, la noire, max Payne etc

I know Sony bought blue point but R* could have approached Sony and had them take care of GTA trilogy HD and RDR-HD (offer 6 months of exclusivity) this way the fans atleast get the best quality

[isarai]

Exactly, most of my interest in GTA6 comes more from wanting to see what the state of R* is at this point. Just about every veteran and lead has left, so I'm just fascinated by how quickly they've basically cannibalised themselves

[Starman69]

Nice comment 😁👍

[1nsomniac]

Why people relentlessly stick with this “just see what this next project brings” attitude with Rockstar is beyond me.

How much crap do they really have to release before you realise they truly are just a garbage developer now. They’re not who they once were. Let’s just get over it. Let them burn themselves out and disappear. We’ll all be better for it.

They were legends. Now they’re a dumpster fire that you can’t quite put out.

[CBaoth]

Don't forget screwing over Leslie Benzies first, the guy responsible for GTA's online success. He's already built up a studio with an ambitious title that probably releases before GTA6! Build a Rocket Boy debuted Everywhere at Gamescom:

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[Si-Fly]

You realise LA Noire wasn’t developed by Rockstar right?

[neutralgamer1992]

Yes it was team Bondi but the last 12-18 months R* stepped in and took care of development too.

[anast]

Yup, they are going all live service.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

This bodes well for GTA6…
/s

[EazyC]

I'm very concerned that R* is going the way of DICE....slowly becoming a shell of its former glory.

We might look back on Red Dead 2 as the "last hurrah" of Rockstar as it was.

[BrettAwesome]

I though we did already 🤔

[franwex]

Guys, went was the last time you had the same job for 16 years? I’m going on 12 and consider leaving often. For the right opportunity I’m not staying.

I’m not saying that R* cannot do better, but it’s not really too indicative of problems.

[Sniperwithacause]

Exactly that!
Besides, I'm pretty confident to say that the writing for GTA6 is completely finished. Probably told the company that once his role was finished, son was he. Not for once would I assume that they just up and left them high and dry in the middle of the job. Most mature adults would burn a bridge, if they want to seek another job in that same field.

[PapaBop]

I think the fact they blew most of us away with GTA 5 and instead of expanding on that properly, they focused on GTAO is very indicative of potential problems. I'm keeping the faith and holding out they don't disappoint but when you look at the money they've made with GTAO, I can't help but be slightly concerned on how that effects GTA going forward.

[isarai]

When the founders and studio leads leave, that is indicative of a problem

[franwex]

If they all leave at the same time, yes. Not many years apart.

[fsfsxii]

Its different in creative industries.

[lucasnooker]

I have a different thought process on this. Who’s to say this guy didn’t just finish writing GTA VI and has now left thinking once the game is complete, he will be paid royalties and be set for the rest of his life. Maybe it just made logical sense for his circumstances to leave and there’s business decisions behind it that I’m sure are reasonable.

[Name Last Name]

Right, being VP of writing I’m sure his work is done and whatever is left in the weeds can be finished by other writers.

[mastershredder]

A definite is not seemingly.

[GoodGuy09]

The writing in these games were master class, sad to see him go.

[StrangeDerp]

Let's face reality and accept the facts, because it's irrelevant that Leslie Benzies and Dan Houser left rockstar games, because Leslie Benzies left rockstar games in (2016) and it made no difference to GTA Online updates or GTA Online gameplay and Dan Houser left rockstar games in (2020), and Dan Houser ONLY wrote the GTA Story for GTA Single Player, and Dan Houser wasn't a programmer or gameplay designer lol.

Leslie Benzies (Producer) leaving rockstar games in (2016) and Dan Houser (GTA Single Player Story Writer) leaving rockstar games in (2020) isn't going to affect GTA 6 gameplay or GTA 6 Online Multiplayer, because they aren't programmers and they don't create the gameplay design, the GTA world, GTA Online, etc.

if GTA 6 Single Player Story Mode is worse than GTA 5's, who cares ?, because most people will only be playing GTA 6 Online Multiplayer after they have finished GTA 6 Single Player Story Mode anyway, because GTA Single Player Story Mode / Free Roam can only entertain most people for so long, until it becomes boring and repetitive.

There are still millions of people playing GTA Online to this day, and there is probably a lot more people playing GTA Online than GTA 5 Single Player.

Have you seen the trash games that Leslie Benzies and Dan Houser are working on ?, Leslie Benzies is working on a trash game called "Everywhere", and Dan Houser invested in a blockchain games company called "Revolving Games", Leslie Benzies and Dan Houser have seriously embarrassed themselves lol.

Here's the video trailer for Leslie Benzies boring and uninteresting looking game called "Everywhere", and here's the article link about Dan Houser investing in a blockchain games company called "Revolving Games", this is beyond embarrassing for Leslie Benzies and Dan Houser lol.

Everywhere Gamescom Teaser 2022
https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser invests in blockchain games studio, joins its advisory board
https://www.videogameschron...

[Extermin8or3_]

I agreed with alot of what you said until you started trashing their current projects. Everywhere actually looks really interesting and has excellent initial previews.

[StrangeDerp]

@Extermin8or3_ I just find it funny when people freak out when x employee leaves rockstar games, and people say "OMG, new GTA games will never be the same again without x employee working at rockstar games!"

it makes no sense, and the people that say those idiotic and illogical things, tend to be just brain dead "sheep" that follow along, because they don't have any interesting or original thoughts, due to the lack of intelligence.

it's actually sometimes pretty amusing to watch the naive and gullible "sheep".

[1nsomniac]

You’ve been spamming me with a copy and paste of this post that you seem to have saved for this exact topic for over a week now. Why?

[chicken_in_the_corn]

Could be a good thing. The writing was always the weak link in Rockstar's games.

[OneLove]

Once they get too big it usually goes from a passionate team dedicated to bringing their dream to life into a company dedicated to pure profit only and pleasing shareholders. We will see where Rockstar decides to go soon.

[Profchaos]

I guess rdr2 was a fitting send off after all a story about outlaws being phased out to make way for civilization

All the original Rockstar's have seemingly moved on the key players at least with some of the last comments Dan Houser made being along the lines of you can't do XYZ anymore and he'd hate to make another modern GTA because basically cancel culture