Dan Houser, co-founder of Rockstar Games, has explained why a sequel to the popular 2006 action-adventure game, Bully, has not been made. He confirmed that the lack of resources stopped development efforts. Speaking with IGN, at the Los Angeles Comic Con in 2025, Houser, who left Rockstar in 2020, noted that what he called “bandwidth issues” were the main reason Bully 2 could not move forward from its early stages. This gives a clear answer to a question that has lingered in the gaming community for nearly two decades.
Houser stated that the decision to put the project on hold was necessary due to the studio’s limitations at that time. Rockstar had a very small creative team and a limited leadership group, which made it impossible to handle multiple large projects at once. Since significant resources were needed for the studio’s main titles, the leadership decided to shift focus and efforts toward other major projects already in development.
The projects that took priority over the potential sequel were a series of critically and commercially successful titles, such as L.A. Noire, the first Red Dead Redemption, Max Payne 3, and the massive Grand Theft Auto 5. Houser mentioned that Bully 2 only reached an early playable stage before the team was reallocated. Focusing on one major title at a time became a standard practice for the studio, making it very unlikely to develop sequels for several different properties at once.
While the original Bully received positive reviews from critics and players when it launched, its planned sequel remains an example of a project that got shelved due to common issues like time and funding in the gaming industry. With Dan Houser and other key members of the original team now gone from Rockstar, and the studio now focused on Grand Theft Auto 6, it seems fans will not see the franchise revisited. The story of Jimmy Hopkins appears set to remain limited to its initial, cherished game.
