Former Rockstar Games gaed Dan Houser has revealed that Bully 2 never happened due to “bandwidth issues”.
Bully 2 never happened because of “bandwidth issues”, Rockstar Games co-founder and former head Dan Houser has claimed.
Fans have longed for a sequel to Rockstar’s 2006 school action-adventure title, and Houser has finally addressed the long-standing question of why Bully 2 never materialised – and his answer comes down to resource limitations.
Speaking with IGN, he said: “I think it was just bandwidth issues. You know, if you’ve got a small lead creative team, and a small senior leadership crew, you just can’t do all the projects you want.
“And you know, we certainly – how we’re structured at [Houser’s current company] Absurd [Ventures], we’re doing two projects with a fairly small team, and it’s really trying to think through that. How can we do that and keep them both moving?”
During development phases of the original Bully, internal discussions and early concept work reportedly took place, but staff were gradually shifted to support other Rockstar efforts, and the sequel quietly faded away.
Houser’s phrasing suggests that, even as fan demand persisted, the studio judged the risk of diverting essential resources to Bully 2 too great relative to its existing projects.
Beyond Bully, Houser also spoke about Red Dead Redemption 2, which he called “the best thing that [he] worked on”.
He elaborated: “Red Dead 2, I think, was the best thing that I worked on. The best single realisation of open-world storytelling, thematic consistence and understanding how the games are assembled to take you on an emotional journey.”
He contrasted this success with his earlier projects, citing Grand Theft Auto IV for its narrative evolution, and praising the middle section of Grand Theft Auto V’s three-character interplay as “really amazing”.
Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser explains why Bully 2 never happened
