Summary
Earlier this month fans were shocked and more than a bit disappointed when Rockstar Games made a newRed Dead Redemptionannouncement. The developer finally revealed that the beloved Western game would be coming to newer consoles but only as a port job and not the long-rumored remaster or remake. The newRed Dead Redemptiontrailer would be flooded with dislikesupon its reveal but has another issue to contend with that goes beyond fan outrage.
In theRed Dead Redemptionannouncement trailer, it was revealed when the game would be available and for what consoles. The game will be re-released on the PlayStation 4 and the Nintendo Switch digitally on August 17th and physically on October 13th. Unfortunately, the game’s release date is a very poor one considering how much competition it will have at present and in the coming months.
RELATED:Red Dead Redemption’s PS4 and Switch Ports Are the Grand Theft Auto Trilogy Debacle All Over Again
Before the port was announced,rumors of aRed Dead Redemptionremake or remasterhad been around since the latter half of 2021 and continued to persist throughout 2023. The latest of these rumors cropped up earlier this summer and kept fans' hopes alive. Unfortunately, as time went on, it started to look like Rockstar Games was putting more resources intoGrand Theft Auto 6’s development while taking away support from variousRed Dead-related projects.
There were also additional rumors that the remake was axed due to the poor reception toGrand Theft Auto: The Trilogy The Definitive Edition. The new versions of theGrand Theft Autogames were very poorly received by gamers and critics who were hard on theDefinitive Edition’s high price and buggy content. Now it appears that the newRed Dead Redemptionport is the final nail in the coffinfor those rumors. Moreover, the port’s release date and price may have put it between a rock and a hard place.
Theprice of theRed Dead Redemptionportwas already controversial but its planned release dates make it far more difficult to justify. Currently, all the gaming industry’s attention is centered aroundBaldur’s Gate 3which has been praised for its dense content, characters, gameplay, and story. It makes the digital version of theRed Dead Redemptionport that much harder of a sell when there is already a new massive open-world game available to players for roughly the same price.
The October physical release date for theRed Dead Redemptionport has it even worse in this regard. October is always a crowded month for video games, as many major releases hit shelved and digital storefronts. This time around, the industry seems to have spread out its release dates, but it doesn’t do the port any favors.
October alone will see the release of highly anticipated games such asLords of the Fallen,Alan Wake 2, andMarvel’s Spider-Man 2. September will also see the release ofMortal Kombat 1andStarfieldwhileModern Warfare 3is due for release in November. WithRed Dead Redemptionsandwiched between all of these high-profile releases, it’s going to be a hard sell for gamers to justify buying the port job over the newest releases.
Currently, it isn’t clear how good of a port job this version of the game will be. All that fans know at the moment is that it won’t have extra content but will include the base game plusRed Dead Redemption:Undead Nightmare. It will not include a PlayStation 5 edition nor will it be available on PC. Because of all of this, the price, and the sheer number of high-profile releases coming out around the same time, it appears as if the new port ofRed Dead Redemptionmay have timed its release date poorly.
Red Dead Redemptionis available now for PS3 and Xbox 360, and releases on August 17 for PS4 and Switch.
