GTA 6: Michael Unsworth, GTA V co-writer now at Absurd Ventures

Michael Unsworth co-wrote Grand Theft Auto V with Dan Houser and Rupert Humphries, and shares the story credits on both Red Dead Redemption games. He left Rockstar Games in summer 2023 after sixteen years, and since October 2023 he has run story at Absurd Ventures, the studio Dan Houser founded. Grand Theft Auto VI, out November 19, 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, has Humphries as the writer Rockstar puts in front of the press.

Three writing credits

Game	Release	Credited writers
Red Dead Redemption	May 18, 2010	Dan Houser, Michael Unsworth, Christian Cantamessa
Grand Theft Auto V	September 17, 2013	Dan Houser, Rupert Humphries, Michael Unsworth
Red Dead Redemption 2	October 26, 2018	Dan Houser, Michael Unsworth, Rupert Humphries

VGC notes he is “one of only three writers credited for both Red Dead Redemption games’ stories,” with Houser among them. The outlet also credits him with dialogue writing on GTA IV, GTA V, Max Payne 3, LA Noire and Midnight Club: Los Angeles, and says the former writing director “had worked on virtually all of Rockstar’s major releases over the past 16 years.”

His title depends on who you read. VGC calls him writing director; Wikipedia, citing that same VGC report, lists him as vice president of writing. Rockstar has never published a biography of him.

A LinkedIn exit

On August 28, 2023, VGC reported that Unsworth had updated his LinkedIn profile to show he had left Rockstar, a change first spotted by GTAForums user Rucke. Houser had gone three years earlier, on March 11, 2020.

Three months later, on November 28, 2023, VGC placed him at Absurd Ventures, where he joined in October as “head of story and creative management,” a detail first spotted by BeGeek. He works there alongside Lazlow Jones, the longtime voice of GTA radio, and Dan Houser. When Absurd unveiled the Absurdaverse on February 1, 2025, a cast of twenty characters for an “original story-driven action-comedy adventure game,” VGC again listed him on the team.

Who writes GTA 6

Rupert Humphries, Rockstar’s senior vice president of narrative, is the studio’s voice on GTA 6’s story. He told Dazed on August 26, 2026 that the game is “a Bonnie and Clyde-type narrative,” in a feature that also quoted game writer Michael Wiafe.

Unsworth stayed at Rockstar for nearly five years after Red Dead Redemption 2 shipped, until summer 2023. As of October 13, 2026, neither Rockstar nor the press has said whether he wrote for GTA 6.