Fans are once again upset and disappointed in Rockstar Games for failing to deliver a proper remake or remastered of Red Dead Redemption, instead opting for a port.
If you’re not caught up on everything, there was a rumor going around for almost year now that Rockstar Games was going to either remake or remaster Red Dead Redemption. Though on Monday, Rockstar Games announced that Red Dead Redemption from 2010 and its Undead Nightmare expansion will be coming to PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch on August 17th and October 13 for a physical release. This is not a remaster or remake, but a port of the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game from 13 years ago that will be priced at a mere $50 USD.
Players are not happy.
Players continue to be upset. On social media, players point out the price of the port being at $50, with a lack of the game’s original multiplayer, no graphical or performance enhancements, or PC release. The only way to play Red Dead Redemption on PC is either through emulation with Xenia (Xbox 360 emulator) or RPCS3 (PlayStation 3 emulator), which offers unlocked framerate and higher resolution.
Take Twos’s CEO, Strauss Zelnick, defended the price of the port, spoke with IGN over this decision saying, “it is the commercially accurate price for it.” Zelnick also notes the included DLC Undead Nightmare, saying it “was a great standalone game in its own right when it was originally released, so we feel like it’s a great bundle for the first time, and certainly a great value for consumers.”
There is also no Xbox release. This is due to the game already being on Xbox’s backwards compatability list. Fans quickly pointed out that the game is also playable on the Xbox Series X at 4k/30FPS and 1440p on the Series S, and still retains the multiplayer aspect, for a cheaper price of around $30, sometimes even cheaper. One user AveryLazyCovfefe on r/reddeadredemption subreddit says,”$50, holy hell. While I found it for as low as $8 on Xbox. Which has a resolution boost.”
Along with pointing out the lack of a PC release, the price tag, and no enhancements, players and fans are calling this a simple “cash grab,” like on the subreddit, with the top post being, “Do not buy Red Dead Redemption… If you want a proper remake/remaster then don’t buy this cash grab.” One user commented,
Really sad day when the top post on r/reddeadredemption is “Don’t buy Red Dead Redemption.”
With this announcement, also came with its fair share of memes. Some making fun of Rockstar, and others poking fun at the fact Red Dead Redemption is coming to a Nintendo console, and the PlayStation 4, with that version being “backward compatible with the PlayStation 5.”
It’s a shame really. People like myself got our hopes up for the possible remake of a beloved game that’s been trapped on older consoles. Sure, it’s nice having the game playable via backward compatibility, but it would be nice to see a well-deserved remake for this game as well as a PC release. Unfortunately, we are left with a simple port.