Smilegate announced that it had made a strategic investment and become a partner in Absurd Ventures, a U.S.-based media and entertainment company founded by Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser.
Absurd Ventures was launched by Houser, whose creative direction during his over twenty years at Rockstar Games drove the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption franchises, among others, to collectively sell more than 550 million units worldwide.
Through this agreement, Smilegate will have the opportunity to partner on Absurd Ventures’ new IP.
Houser creatively oversaw globally successful IPs that are cultural cornerstones and rooted in immersive storytelling. As the creative director and lead writer of Rockstar’s biggest games, Houser conceived indelibly rich worldbuilding, captivating and sometimes heart-breaking stories, and created iconic characters like Tommy Vercetti, Arthur Morgan, Trevor Phillips, and John Marston, to name just a few.
Absurd Ventures are already producing on a wide array of mediums
Houser’s team at Absurd Ventures includes key leaders and talent from his time at Rockstar Games as well as executive game development veterans who worked on Call of Duty, Pokemon Go! and many other AAA franchises.
Absurd Ventures is currently at work building a bold new vision with diverse new IP universes across a wide array of mediums, including video games as well as live-action and animated TV and film, audio fiction podcasts, books, comic books and more.
While Absurd Ventures’ video game projects are in the early stages of development, they have released a hit audio fiction series set in their science-fiction universe, A BETTER PARADISE, which debuted at #1 on Apple’s Fiction charts and will be introducing their AMERICAN CAPER crime-fiction universe as an original comic book series in 2025.
A third IP universe from Absurd Ventures will also be revealed soon.
Smilegate is the creator of the blockbuster franchises “CROSSFIRE,” “Lost Ark,” and “Epic Seven,” which are hugely beloved in the global market.
“CROSSFIRE,” launched in 2007, is a first-person shooting game played in over 80 countries worldwide by approximately 1 billion gamers. Smilegate’s flagship MMORPG, “Lost Ark,” is played in 160 countries by 1..32M concurrent users. Smilegate is steadily solidifying its position as a ‘Global IP powerhouse.’
“This collaboration with Smilegate was borne from a mutual respect and a philosophical alignment with founder Kwon, and the great passion he and his team bring to making AAA games. We both want to build interesting worlds and new player experiences.”
Dan Houser, Founder of Absurd Ventures
Smilegate and Absurd Ventures will each leverage the strength of the other into new and sustainable business opportunities. Smilegate will benefit from Houser and his team’s proven narrative, AAA game, and business expertise in the Western market, while Absurd will benefit from Smilegate’s expertise in the Asian market.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with the developers behind globally renowned series that have millions of fans worldwide. Together with Absurd Ventures, Smilegate aims to deliver games that players across the globe will love. This partnership marks a critical milestone in Smilegate’s journey toward becoming a global IP powerhouse.”
Joonho Sung, CEO of Smilegate
The two companies will pool each other’s strengths in areas such as online/live service, given Smilegate’s success with CROSSFIRE and Houser and his team’s experience overseeing the wildly successful Grand Theft Auto Online.
