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Take-Two's Zelnick says Rockstar has "never been stronger" in wake of Dan Houser departure

Take-Two's Zelnick says Rockstar has "never been stronger" in wake of Dan Houser departure

The CEO of publishing giant Take-Two Strauss Zelnick (pictured) has said that all is fine at Grand Theft Auto maker Rockstar following the news of co-founder Dan Houser leaving.

Speaking to investors, as reported by Seeking Alpha, the exec said that the studio had "never been stronger" and cited the continued strong performance of Grand Theft Auto V, as well as 2018's Red Dead Redemption 2. Zelnick also pointed out that Sam Houser is actually running Rockstar, but said that he is grateful for Dan's contributions over the years.

"So Dan Houser had been on an extended leave since early spring 2019," Zelnick said.

"The company has been led since its founding by Sam Houser who is President of the company and it’s an extraordinary team effort and Sam is a great player and coach. The results of Rockstar Games continue to be extraordinary with the launch of the new content for both Grand Theft Auto Online and for Red Dead Online. And it’s amazingly gratifying to see Grand Theft Auto V selling at 120 million units and Red Dead Redemption 2 to be up to 29 million units with the launch of PC and Stadia as well as the really extraordinary results of Grand Theft Auto Online which we now expect to have another record year more than six years after its initial launch and of course, Red Dead Online itself was up something like three-times year-over-year and sequentially in the last quarter.

"So the label has really never been stronger where we are incredibly optimistic and excited. At the same time, we grateful to Dan for his contributions and we wish him well."


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.