Rockstar Co-Founder Reveals Why the Spy Game Agent Was Canceled
Rockstar Games co-founder and writer Dan Houser discussed the canceled spy game Agent during an appearance on Lex Fridman’s podcast. According to Houser, the project went through multiple versions and concepts — including a 1970s Cold War setting and a modern-day take — but none of them ever worked.
"We had so many different versions of this game... I don’t know what it would’ve been because it never really… We never got it enough to even do a proper story on it. We’re doing the early work as you get the world up and running. It never really found its feet in either of them".
Houser explained that the main issue was the incompatibility between the spy thriller genre and the open-world format:
"And I sort of think I know why, because one of those films, they’re very, very frenetic and they beat, beat, beat. You know, you gotta go here and save the world. You gotta go there and stop that person from being killed and then save the world. And an open-world game does have moments like that when the story comes together. But for large portions, it’s a lot kind of looser and you’re just hanging out and you’re just doing what you want. And I want freedom, and I wanna go over here and do what I want, and I wanna go over and do what I want. And that’s why it works well being a criminal, because you fundamentally don’t have anyone telling you what to do. And we try and create external agency through these people kind of forcing you into the story at times. But as a spy, that doesn’t really work because you have to be against the clock".
He also mentioned that Rockstar experimented with other ideas, such as a knights-themed game with mythological elements, though that concept never moved beyond early brainstorming.
Ultimately, Houser confirmed that Agent, first announced back in 2009 as a PlayStation 3 exclusive, never found its footing, which led to the project’s cancellation. While the spy genre remains appealing, he doubts it could naturally work within an open-world framework — at least not without a complete rethinking of traditional gameplay mechanics.
Earlier, Dan Houser also spoke with IGN, sharing more insights about his time at Rockstar and current projects — you can find the highlights of that interview there.