Is Red Dead Redemption 2 delayed? That’s the buzz online right now as we close the curtain on March and fans ponder why there still isn’t any new information for Rockstar’s highly anticipated sequel. It's been almost half a year now with no more posters, trailers, gameplay footage. Not even a peep about the story.
Is there reason for concern? Maybe.
Rockstar’s initial trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2 gives (the highly ambiguous) "Fall 2017" as the game’s release window. This could be anywhere between September to December, giving Rockstar some breathing room if indeed they need to push the game back a few weeks. However fans are worried that with only 6-8 months to promote a new game, Rockstar is a little late to the party.
Sure, we might get something at E3, but that's not until June. It would be the perfect event to reacher a wider audience but we'd still need additional information about RDR2 before then in order to avoid an inevitable delay. Then again, the Grand Theft Auto developer is notoriously secretive, and some argue that the announcement trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2 was enough to build a tremendous amount of hype that Rockstar is still cruising on.
Video games are always prone to delays and Rockstar's games are no exception to the rule: Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption were both slightly delayed. GTA V for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 was delayed several months from an initial launch window between March and May 2013 to releasing on September 17 that year. The PC version too, was delayed from a simultaneous launch with the PS4 and Xbox One versions on November 18, 2014 to April 14, 2015. The original RDR, on the other hand, had a much shorter delay with Rockstar pushing it back just one month from April to May 18, 2010.
Fans might look to Rockstar publisher Take-Two’s next investor call to garner more clues, however the next call probably won't be until the first or second week of May. If some more concrete information about Red Dead Redemption 2 isn’t on the table by then, a delay is almost certain.
Our Thoughts?
Red Dead Redemption 2 is likely still on for an October-November release. This has been Rockstar’s preferred launch window for most of its games, including every Grand Theft Auto except GTA IV (which was released in April 2008). And if there is a delay, it'll be minor - probably so Rockstar can optimize a PS4 Pro version of the game.
With so many blockbuster games releasing around now (Mass Effect: Andromeda, Horizon Zero Dawn, Nier, Persona 5 and the Nintendo Switch with games like Zelda), Rockstar is probably just waiting for a good moment to take all the thunder for itself. Now that the Switch is out in the wild though and Destiny 2 has been announced (September 8 by the way), they are probably moving some Red Dead Redemption 2 pieces into place.
That being said, we would love a new trailer to pick apart right about now!
