GTA 5 singleplayer DLC starring Trevor was canceled in favor of Red Dead Redemption 2

Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser says that GTA 5's singleplayer DLC could have interrupted Red Dead Redemption 2's development if it wasn't canceled.

GTA 5 singleplayer DLC starring Trevor was canceled in favor of Red Dead Redemption 2
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Senior Gaming Editor
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TL;DR: Rockstar Games canceled GTA 5's singleplayer DLC, featuring Trevor as a secret agent, to prioritize Red Dead Redemption 2's development. Co-founder Dan Houser revealed the DLC was half-finished but scrapped to focus on RDR2, highlighting the studio's commitment to expansive storytelling and future singleplayer content.

If Rockstar had shipped GTA 5's singleplayer DLC, then there's a possibility that Red Dead Redemption 2 may never have been made.

GTA 5 singleplayer DLC starring Trevor was canceled in favor of Red Dead Redemption 2 277

In a recent interview with Lex Fridman, Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser revealed a bunch of interesting details about the studio, canceled content, and what it was like working on some of the most lauded video games in history. One of the more critical decisions is deciding on what Rockstar does and doesn't work on--in this case, GTA 5's singleplayer DLC had to be scrapped to make way for Red Dead Redemption 2.

Houser confirms that the GTA 5 DLC would have starred Trevor had it actually come out, but the content was only about halfway done before it had been canceled altogether so that devs could prioritize RDR2.

Below is a quick transcript of what Houser said about GTA 5's canceled DLC, and how that could have interrupted Red Dead Redemption 2's development cycle.

Q. Are there DLC for RDR or GTA that you wish you had the time to have created?

"Of course. There's always things I wish I had done--I wish I had done more. The internet knows we made a singleplayer DLC for GTA 5 that never came out. And we never really worked on another game, the idea of it, I liked it, it was a GTA zombie game. It would've been funny and could've been quite fun.

"[The GTA 5 DLC] was one where you played as Trevor, but he was a secret agent. It was cute, it never quite came together and it was never finished. It was about half-done.

"But I think if it came out, then we wouldn't have gotten to make Red Dead 2. So there's always compromises. But I like making stories--for me, I like the model of GTA 4 when you had the extra stories coming afterwards. Or Red Dead 1 when you had the zombie pack coming afterwards. I like just doing these extra things, so I would personally liked to have done more of that in that company.

"The stuff we're doing for the future we're going to try to create worlds where we can add more stories. I like singleplayer DLC, I think the audience loves it and it's really fun to make."