A detailed look at the failures, and success, of Rockstar’s latest hit.
Red Dead Redemption 2 mod turns the game into Elden Ring, adding spells, boss fights, and Uncle as the final boss.
Take-Two announced its financial results for Q2 of fiscal year 2026, and shared an update on the sales of GTA5 and Red Dead Redemption 2.
You think Rockstar views Red Dead 2 as a failure because it didn't sell 150m copies?
I am pretty sure they don't. It was profitable and made them a lot of money. Not GTA5 money but far from failure. Maybe it is lower priority franchise, due to being smaller, but that is about the lowest they would put it as. Only thing they do consider failure is RDR2 Online, unlike GTA5 Online, that RDR2 Online flopped. Hence why it got less support. And when it come to profits, sales for both combined don't come close to GTA Online microtansactions. Hence why everything very quickly got canceled and GTA Online was top priority, so no GTA6 for a long time, no DLC for GTA5, despite there being 5 DLCs planned, at least I think it was 5, give or take one. But as I see it, they needed to rejuvenate interest and all, hence why GTA6 eventually is getting made. But what they are really looking forward to is refresh of Online.
Only in terms of the online aspect of the game. They didn't support it as much as they did GTA V Online. I remember people being pissed about that.
Boring and overrated. Red Dead Redemption is pretty good though. The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy is my personal GOAT. We need more stuff like that from TooKyo.
I must be one of the few who are fine with the GTA6 delay. People treat that game like it’s the 2nd coming lol.
My daughter asked me how I felt about I shrugged and said I don't care gives me time to finish up games I already have. It's all good let them make the best game they can.
Dan Houser opens up about Red Dead Redemption 2’s rocky development, calling it behind schedule, massively over budget, and full of pressure to prove doubters wrong.
The world they built is pretty amazing. Unfortunately, the game was mostly boring to me. I definitely had fun in some parts, but it didn't do it for me as a whole like the first one did. I loved RDR so much.
The budgets and time it takes to make games these days is out of control. Such a big risk. If a game isn't a huge hit, it is often it for a studio. Scary. I really miss the PS2 and PS3 days where studeios could make 4 games in a generation and take risks in making something new. And so many were using their own engines. Those were the days.
Agreed. I love RDR but couldn't get into RDR2. The animations take forever and game slows you down on purpose. It won't let you have fun because R* want us to play the game they want to. I know millions love RDR2 and I even bought and own it. But just wasn't for me.
It's like comparing GTA4 to saints row 2. One game was about fun while the other was about realism and that's coming from someone who beat GTA4 many times. I much rather a game be fun to play than chase realism
GTA IV’s realism is what made it so much more fun for me. I loved experimenting with the physics.
I bought RDR2 also. Put 100+ hours into it and beat it our of respect for Rockstar and all the people saying it was the greatest game ever. RDR blew my mind but might also have been the best time in gaming for me personally. l loved that PS3 gen so much.
I am excited to see what GTA6 is like.
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I just finished it last night, and I waited a few months before starting it to let the hype around it die down a bit. So my overall thoughts? I give an 8/10. Great game, but no where nearly as perfect as all these sites claimed it to be. I'll try to sum up my thoughts rather briefly.
Positives:
-I liked the overall story with the gang, and how the gang slowly falls apart by the end. Epilogue was very nice too
-Graphics, presentation and technical aspects were outstanding
-Tons of little details everywhere
-Voice acting is great
-Likable characters (though most of them feel somewhat underdeveloped)
-Tons of activities to do
Cons:
-Controls were very sluggish and unresponsive at times especially during combat
-Controller/button layout is garbage
-Animations tend to be too slow to my liking which bogs the overall game down
-Combat itself is mediocre
-Too many unnecessary "realism mechanics" such as health cores, loadout being reset on your horse, dressing yourself for appropriate weather, while you have other gamy mechanics that goes against the whole realism idea (needs to stick with one or the other, not both)
-Felt more like a western simulator than an actual videogame most of the times
-By far my biggest gripe is the amount of traveling you are forced to do (no fast travel except from camp which is one-way) and it can easily take at least 5 minutes to get to a mission (in-real time)
-Forced to walk extremely slow in certain areas of the game such as camp
-Repeatedly press A/X on horse to gallop (gets annoying real fast)
-Horse has a terrible auto guide which caused me to crash into trees several times when I tried to avoid it
-Constantly found myself fighting against the controls, as too many buttons are tied to specific actions
Overall the game is a solid 8/10. I liked it, but there are some glaring problems that critics did not point out for some reason. It's one of those games that for me personally is going to be very hard to go back to due to the gameplay and sloppy controls. There are tons of other oepn-world games I much rather play again over RDR2.