Rockstar Co-Founder: Red Dead Redemption and Bully Almost Never Happened

Ever wonder how close we came to never riding into the sunset with John Marston or causing mischief in Bullworth Academy? According to Rockstar Games co-founder and former lead writer Dan Houser, both Red Dead Redemption and Bully almost didn't happen.

Speaking to IGN, Houser explained that original games face a much tougher time reaching the finish line than sequels. "I think there were lots of moments where Red Dead nearly didn't happen. I think there were lots of moments when Bully nearly didn't happen, and lots of other moments when games that didn't happen could have," he said. "There are lots of happenstance moments, or one good build, or the game suddenly comes together, that save projects that are struggling."

Building any AAA game is a massive challenge, but new franchises in particular "tend to struggle a lot, so it's almost more impressive when they get made than it is heartbreaking when they don't," Houser added. That struggle was especially real for 2010's Red Dead Redemption, which faced "a lot of difficult periods" during development.

So how did the cowboy classic pull through? Houser credits the "core people on the team [who] were really strong, held focus on what they were trying to do, and solved the problems." He recalled that development was interesting because the team was discovering "what the problems were and figuring out solutions to slowly unpick what was interesting about an open-world cowboy game." In hindsight, what makes Red Dead interesting is "obvious," he says, "but in real-time you were left with nothing but holes you're slowly filling."

Sadly, Bully never got a sequel, but Red Dead Redemption 2 went on to become one of the best-selling games of all time. For now, Rockstar seems entirely focused on GTA 6, and the studio even figured out the perfect advertisement – a bunch of supercars from Vice City speeding along the streets of Miami.

So next time you boot up a Rockstar classic, remember: it almost didn't exist. What do you think about Houser's comments? Will you be revisiting Red Dead or Bully anytime soon?