'I Question if You Can Even Make a Good Open-World Spy Game' — Rockstar Co-Founder Dan Houser Finally Explains Why Agent Never Happened

Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser has offered the champion mentation yet for wherefore the developer's open-world spy thriller Agent fell by the wayside.

Agent is the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption developer's agelong mislaid spy game, which was announced arsenic a PlayStation 3 exclusive successful 2009 but has since disappeared. Rockstar has ne'er officially canceled the project, but images leaked successful 2015 showed immoderate of its levels, and portion immoderate anticipation remained owed to renewed trademarks, this was yet scrapped successful 2018 and its website was unopen down successful 2021.

So, what happened to Agent? Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption writer Dan Houser, present of Absurd Ventures, has yet offered fans a elaborate mentation successful an interrogation connected the Lex Fridman podcast. According to Houser, contempt aggregate versions of Agent being attempted astatine Rockstar, the crippled ne'er came together, and that’s because, fundamentally, an open-world spy crippled simply doesn’t work.

“We worked a batch connected aggregate iterations of an open-world spy game, and it ne'er came together,” Houser began.

“It had astir 5 antithetic iterations. I don’t deliberation it works. I concluded — and I support reasoning astir it sometimes, I sometimes prevarication successful furniture reasoning astir it — and I’ve concluded that what makes them truly bully arsenic movie stories makes them not enactment arsenic video games. Or we request to deliberation done however to bash it successful a antithetic mode arsenic a video game”.

The mentation of Agent Rockstar announced was acceptable successful during the Cold War successful the 1970s, but Houser revealed this was conscionable 1 mentation of galore Rockstar tried and failed to crook into a amusive video game. Indeed, determination was a mentation acceptable successful the modern time that besides failed to spell anywhere.

“That was 1 of the versions,” helium said. “There was different 1 that was acceptable successful the current… we had truthful galore antithetic versions of this game, we worked with truthful galore antithetic teams.”

He continued: “Espionage, assassinations… I don't cognize what it would've been due to the fact that it ne'er really… We ne'er got it capable to adjacent doing a due communicative connected it. We were doing the aboriginal enactment arsenic you get the satellite up and running. It ne'er truly recovered its feet successful either of them. And I benignant of deliberation I cognize why.

“Because successful 1 of those films, they're very, precise frenetic and they bushed to bushed to bushed — you gotta spell present and prevention the world, you gotta spell determination and halt that idiosyncratic being killed and past prevention the world. An open-world crippled does person moments similar that erstwhile the communicative comes together. But for ample portions, it's a batch looser, and you're conscionable hanging retired and you’re conscionable doing what you want. And I privation freedom. I wanna spell implicit present and bash what I want, and I wanna spell implicit and bash what you want. That's wherefore it works good being a criminal, due to the fact that you fundamentally don't person anyone telling you what to do. We effort and make outer bureau done these radical benignant of forcing you into the communicative astatine times.

“But arsenic a spy, that doesn't truly enactment due to the fact that you person to beryllium against the clock. So I deliberation for me, I question if you tin adjacent marque a bully open-world spy game. So tons of things would enactment arsenic open-world games, but I don't cognize if a spy does.”

A screenshot from the cancelled Agent.

In 2023, erstwhile Rockstar Games method manager Obbe Vermeij said unit from Grand Theft Auto 5's improvement contributed to Agent yet switching studios earlier being scrapped altogether.

"We truly got going connected this 1 and worked connected it for implicit a year. I retrieve moving connected a downhill skiing pursuit country with guns for instance," Vermeij said of Agent.

"The crippled wasn't progressing arsenic good arsenic we'd hoped. It was inevitable that yet the full institution would person to get down the adjacent Grand Theft Auto. We tried to chopped the crippled down successful an effort to get the bulk of it done earlier the inevitable telephone from New York would come. We chopped retired an full level (I deliberation Cairo) and possibly adjacent the abstraction section.

"It became wide that [Agent] was going to beryllium excessively overmuch of a distraction for america and we ditched it. I deliberation it was handed implicit to different institution wrong Rockstar but ne'er got completed." Half of the Rockstar North squad was moving connected Grand Theft Auto 4 DLC and Grand Theft Auto 5, portion fractional was acceptable to enactment connected Agent earlier the value of its premiere franchise took over.

Dan Houser astatine 2025 Los Angeles Comic Con. Photo by Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images.

Agent was developed arsenic a spy thriller akin to James Bond, earning it the codename "Jimmy" wrong the Scotland-based Rockstar North studio, with Jimmy being a Scottish nickname for James.

"The crippled was to beryllium acceptable successful the 70s, beryllium much linear than Grand Theft Auto with a fig of locations," Vermeij said. "There was a French Mediterranean city, a Swiss skis resort, Cairo, and astatine the extremity determination would beryllium a large shootout with lasers successful space. Classic James Bond. The vibe was precise cool."

Rockstar was kept engaged different with smash hits GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2, releasing successful 2013 and 2018 respectively. GTA 6 is acceptable to travel adjacent year.

Houser went connected to accidental that rockstar besides “played astir with the knights concept,” pursuing Agent’s demise, “trying to bash a mentation of a mythological crippled that could person been fun.”

“Still emotion that idea, but ne'er went precise acold with it,” helium explained. “It ne'er got to penning immoderate of it. Just did immoderate backstory and played astir with a fewer ideas. But it was ever thing I thought I would ne'er do, and past benignant of fell successful emotion with it a small bit.”

While Agent is dead, IO Interactive’s promising 007: First Light is owed retired adjacent year.

Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images.

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].