Dan Houser Opens Up About the Difficult Development of Red Dead Redemption 2

Despite being one of the five best-selling games of all time, Red Dead Redemption 2 is still often underrated as one of the greatest works of interactive art ever made. Rockstar itself considers the 2018 title the studio’s best creation to date.

Fans have repeatedly voted Red Dead Redemption 2 as the greatest sequel ever made, and its sales continue to grow each year. In 2025, the game even reached its peak concurrent player count on Steam. However, as it turns out, there were serious doubts within Rockstar during development — not everyone believed the project would come together.

Speaking on the Lex Fridman Podcast, Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser revealed that Red Dead Redemption 2 was developed under immense pressure. According to him, the team fell far behind schedule, and the budget had spiraled so high that he preferred not to think about it at all: "With Red Dead 2 we were behind schedule and we were over budget so much i didn’t want to think about it."

At one point, Houser said, the development process turned into complete chaos — individual parts of the game weren’t fitting together, and doubts spread within the studio about whether the sequel could live up to expectations.

Creative risks added even more stress. Red Dead Redemption 2 dared to tell a complex, almost tragic story. Its protagonist, Arthur Morgan, a dying cowboy with tuberculosis, was inspired by Houser’s own grandfather — a man who managed to recover from a severe illness at a time when no vaccine existed.

Houser also revealed that in the early drafts of the story, Arthur Morgan was originally supposed to lose his son at the beginning of the game, but the writers later decided to abandon that idea. As for a potential Red Dead Redemption 3, the Rockstar co-founder is skeptical, saying he views the franchise as a completed duology.

Recently, Red Dead Redemption 2 celebrated its seventh anniversary. Since its release in 2018, the western action game has sold over 77 million copies worldwide.