Rockstar departs from Red Dead Online to focus on GTA VI

It was an open secret, but that doesn't make it any easier to assume. Rockstar has confirmed that it is abandoning Red Dead Online to focus entirely on GTA VI. The company had not updated the game since July 2021, but it has not been until now, a year later, that it announced as definitive this pause in its updates:

“Over the past few years, we have been steadily moving more development resources towards the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series — understanding more than ever the need to exceed players’ expectations and for this next entry to be the best it can possibly be — and as a result, we are in the process of making some changes to how we support Red Dead Online," the studio explained in a statement on its official website, Rockstar Newswire.

"We plan to build upon existing modes and add new Telegram Missions this year, rather than delivering major themed content updates like in previous years, and we will continue to highlight and share the creative efforts of our Red Dead community at every opportunity via the Newswire and beyond. Once again, we want to thank the community for their continued support. We are truly grateful for all the constructive feedback we’ve received up to this point and hope you keep it coming."

Red Dead Online was launched in October 2018, just a few months after Red Dead Redemption 2. It aspired to follow in the footsteps of GTA Online, but while the latter has been around for almost a decade of content and updates, the Wild West took only three years to be a wasteland devoid of gold. Now, after four years, this goodbye means surrendering to the evidence: the numbers. While GTA V has about 125,000 daily players, Red Dead Online barely reached 3,000.

Earlier we said that it was an open secret because, in recent days, the community was seeing the movement coming and had even organized a funeral for Red Dead Online. More than 8,000 people had signed up for an online meeting to say goodbye to the game and protest the situation under the hashtags #RedDeadFuneral and #SaveRedDeadOnline.

Red Dead Redemption and GTA IV remasters

In recent days the news that the remasters of Red Dead Redemption and GTA IV have also been postponed. Both games were going to be a reality, but Rockstar has decided to focus on the new installment of the series and not look back, especially after what happened with Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition. It seems that now, yes, the development of GTA VI is going full steam ahead.

Source | VGC