The talented and brilliant co-founders of Rockstar Games have become the 4th richest people in the UK for gaming. Thanks to their success with GTA, Red Dead Redemption and more, Sam and Dan Houser are worth hundreds of millions.
On Saturday, The Times published its annual UK Rich List. It revealed how much the brothers are worth and where they rank in the list for the whole of the UK. They also shared a gaming only list and both Sam and Dan Houser come in 4th place and are worth ÂŁ350 million ($453 million). This surpasses the 6th place and ÂŁ310m found in the previous play only list back in 2020. In 2019, they were worth ÂŁ300m.
Reaching new heights
In terms of overall UK ranking, The Times only shares the top 350 as opposed to the top 500 as last time. Although the GTA duo are not on this list by name, they do have the same value as the 350th person: Sir Lewis Hamilton. Funnily enough, he comes in 350th position with ÂŁ350 million, the same amount as Dan and Sam Houser. In 2020, they came in 418th position.
The people above them on the play list are free-to-play mobile game makers Igor and Dmitry Bukhman (£12.54 billion), the founder of web3 metaverse company Herman Narula (£780 million) and of Candy Crush fame King co-founder Riccardo Zacconi (410 million £). So if you exclude mobile gaming and “web3”, the Houser brothers are the richest British game developers.
Fans of Rockstar Games will notice a few errors in The Times article, however. It notes that Dan Houser left in 2010 which is not accurate. He left in 2020 as we reported here. Since leaving Rockstar, Dan has created a new studio and recruited several other Rockstar veterans. Also, the photo used for Sam Houser is not Sam at all.
Hiding from the spotlight
In 25 years since founding Rockstar Games, the pair have rarely been seen or interviewed. Their preference to remain private is very similar to how they are with the development of their game. A rare interview with Dan Houser was conducted in June this year.
Meanwhile Sam wrote a letter to Rockstar Games fans in November and revealed that the first trailer for GTA 6 is coming the following month. He also said this after the trailer released:
“Grand Theft Auto VI continues our efforts to push the boundaries of what’s possible in highly immersive, story-driven open-world experiences. We’re thrilled to be able to share this new vision with gamers everywhere.”
Sam Houser, Co-Founder of Rockstar Games
According to a report by Tax Watch UKthree “Principals” (the Houser brothers and Leslie Benzies) plus other unnamed Rockstar employees were entitled to a profit share worth 50% of the operating profit made on Rockstar titles.
Between the fiscal year ending in 2014 and 2019, internal royalties were $2.5 billion for Take-Two Interactive. In 2017 alone, GTA V generated $583 million in royalties. 2018 saw it earn $383m in royalties; most of the royalties go to the Houser brothers.
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