GTA will not be adapted to film, says Dan Houser

Dan Houser, the vice president of creativity and co-founder of Rockstar Games, has said why he believes Grand Theft Auto will not be adapted to film.

Speaking to The Guardian, Houser said that they would rather remain in the games industry because it encourages freedom of choice and creativity. Something of which Hollywood does not usually allow.

The freedom we have to do want we want is of enormous value

“The money’s never been close to be worth risking one’s crown jewels,” Houser said. “Our small dabblings with Hollywood have always left us running back to games. The freedom we have to do what we want creatively is of enormous value. The second you go near Hollywood, people seem willing, or have been forced, to lose a lot of that control. That sort of amorphous ‘that won’t test well’ attitude is exactly how we don’t work. We’ve always tried to think of stuff that’s innovative and new, and to go into a world where that’s not encouraged would be horrible.”

Houser went on to say that he believes Grand Theft Auto would work better as a television series, even though it would be missing crucial aspects of its video game counterpart.

“It’s much easier to imagine GTA as a TV series, as the form is closer, but I still think we’d be losing too much to ever actually do it. We’ve got this big open-world experience that’s 100 hours long, and that gives players control over what they do, what they see, and how they see it. A world where you can do everything from rob a bank to take a yoga lesson to watch TV, all in your own time. How do you condense that into a two-hour or 12-hour experience where you take away the main things: player agency and freedom?”

Grand Theft Auto is a world renowned game series, with the next installment due to be released on September 17th, 2013.