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Everyone who has been paying the slightest bit of attention to gaming news is likely familiar with the Battlefront 2 fiasco regarding the lootboxes and microtransactions. The controversy was big enough to prompt EA to turn off microtransactions in the game entirely, but that couldn’t quiet the many voices that cried foul. Soon, eyes were turned to other upcoming AAA titles, Red Dead Redemption 2 among them. While hardly as nefarious as many gamers made it out to be, comments made by Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick regarding monetization didn’t help quell the masses. Taken out of context, his words “recurrent consumer spending opportunities” were like fuel on the fire. Players were on edge about how invasive the microtransactions of the next game from the publisher and developer behind GTA Online will be, and with the whole Battlefront 2 debacle, those worries were magnified. During an earnings call, Zelnick stated that the company’s goal going forward is to put microtransactions into every release, thus practically confirming that Red Dead Online will have them. While there was always no question about this following the huge success of GTA Online’s Shark Cards, it did act as some kind of faux-red flag. Thing is, in that same call – in that same paragraph too – he also said things that clearly highlight that he doesn’t intend the company’s games to gouge every last cent from players. What’s more, in light of the recent controversy, those words are more than just corporate promises, since going down lootbox-lane is a guaranteed disaster. Let’s, for starters, not even deal with those comments, but simply look at the situation from the perspective of your typical AAA corporate bigwig. It’s easy to demonize these people since they can appear to be overly greedy and many may have never even held a controller in their life. But simply put, they want to make money for their shareholders. That’s what they are paid to do. Lootboxes, granted, have so-far proven to be a pretty good way of doing that. They worked for Blizzard, right? Blizzard is doing lootboxes well in the sense that they only provide cosmetic rewards and do not affect performance (in fact, not even progression affects performance in Overwatch, which is better from a gameplay design perspective altogether, but that’s a whole other story…). Then came EA, who as always, butchered the system to be as penny picker-y as possible. This controversy, which was greatly increased in magnitude due to the huge IP it was tied to, reached beyond the core gamer demographic and turned the mainstream opinion against lootboxes. State commissions are investigating whether to outright ban lootboxes in some countries, Battlefront 2 is one of the worst rated AAA titles this year and players are ridiculing EA en-masse under every single social media post about the game. It looks really bad. Now, switching back to corporate-vision, this puts lootboxes into a terrible light. They get your game rated down into oblivion and bring lawmen sniffing. Take-Two has been big on public image, and Rockstar even moreso – they like having the spotlight for themselves, and when Red Dead Redemption 2 rolls around, they definitely will have it. So it’s imperative that there aren’t any meltdowns when the entire gaming world is looking. Microtransactions as a whole have been under constant fire, but the lootbox controversy is the most public and loud example of hostility. In the case of GTA Online, a vocal minority of active hardcore gamers criticise the system, whereas the overwhelming majority of casual players buy in. Lootboxes are now near-universally reviled. If Red Dead Redemption 2 fielded its multiplayer component with lootboxes that provided players with weapons, horses and other items that greatly affected gameplay, then slapped huge prices on them while saying “psst, you can also get them for real money”, the outrage would rain on the game’s parade big time. Take-Two has a lot riding on this release, so that isn’t a route they’d want to go down. Now, we keep referring to Take-Two instead of Rockstar in this piece because usually the developers have little to no influence on how their games get monetized in the AAA sphere. The publisher does the number crunching for profit margins and market research etc, and the developer is simply told to make flashy animations for when the lootbox pops open. Swinging back to Zelnick’s comments, he added some important sentences after talking about bringing microtransactions into all their games: We are convinced that we are probably from an industry view under-monetizing on a per-user basis[…] […]we’re not trying to optimize the monetization of everything we do to the nth degree. My concern is, if you do that, the consumer knows. They might not even know that they know, but they feel it. He’s avoiding EA’s big mistake – he doesn’t assume the consumers are stupid. While the controversy around Battlefront 2 is more than legitimate, as the original approach was utterly underhanded and botched, increasing the scope of said controversy to unreleased games, the economies of which we know nothing about, is needless. Condemning the microtransactions of Red Dead Online, which are as of now completely shrouded in mystery, seems like a manufactured controversy piggybacking on the Battlefront 2 bandwagon. While this may not have been the killing stroke for lootboxes, they are definitely at the forefront of the industry’s collective mind right now due to the state commissions being involved. And while a few have come out on the side of lootboxes, like the UK, many others, including the EU and certain states in the US, have stated that they are, in fact, gambling, and need to be regulated if not outright banned. Looking at the big picture, the whole “battle” between players and AAA publishers regarding monetization started with DLC becoming widespread roughly a decade ago. Lootboxes are just the newest chapter in this long tale – but it might be the briefest. Let’s just hope what comes next isn’t worse. The post No, Red Dead Redemption 2 Won’t Be A Microtransaction Mess appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

Anyone reading gaming news lately has no doubt encountered droves of articles concerning lootboxes, which seem to be the AAA game industry’s new favorite way to monetize games. All the cool games on the block are doing it, and on paper the finances seem to indicate that the system works. However some recent controversies might convince Take-Two not to force them onto Red Dead Redemption 2, or to otherwise implement them in a more consumer friendly manner. That’ll be $10.We’ve known since the game’s announcement that Red Dead Redemption 2 will have a multiplayer mode similar to GTA Online, and following the last earnings report from Take-Two we also know that Red Dead Online will have “recurrent player spending opportunities”. Considering how widespread the lootbox system has become, appearing even in single player games like Middle Earth: Shadow of War and Assassin’s Creed: Origins (though in the latter they can only be bought with in-game currency, not real money, and are thus an example of lootboxes done right) and continuing to be popular across multiplayer titles like Overwatch and Rainbow 6: Siege, it’s not a far-fetched assumption that Take-Two was planning something similar for Red Dead Online. However, following a few high profile debacles, most notably the recent controversies surrounding whether lootboxes can count as gambling and the outcry regarding the pricing schemes of EA’s Star Wars: Battlefront 2, the Red Dead Redemption 2 team might opt for a different approach to monetization. Looboxes have earned the ire of the gaming community at large, becoming a widely condemned practice. At the same time, the numbers speak for themselves. Lootboxes keep increasing the long-term profitability of games, which is why companies are pushing them. Something to remember with the gaming community is that said “community” – meaning the people who engage with one another and with developers online – is a minority among the consumer base. For every angry fan talking about boycotting lootboxes on social media there are 100 voiceless consumers who buy into the system. What’s different this time is the magnitude of dissent. Anger towards lootboxes is nothing new, but the controversy around Battlefront 2’s handling of them seeped down into the wider consumer base, and had a significant negative effect on review scores. As skewed a metric as it is, many publishers consider Metacritic as the be-all-end-all qualitative factor (to the extent that some issue bonuses to employees based on Metacritic scores), and while most of Battlefront 2’s reviews are in-progress and thus not tallied, things are not looking good – at least, with corporate eyes. To game company executives, a 7/10 is an abomination, a failure, a disgrace. Looking at the landscape through Take-Two’s eyes, three things would likely be most noticeable: lootboxes are hated, lootboxes make money, and GTA Online makes more money. Thing is, GTA Online doesn’t have lootboxes (thankfully), and it consistently makes the highest profit from digital sources quarter to quarter among publicly traded game publishers. This means that Rockstar is capable of maintaining a huge “recurrent consumer spending” economy without resorting to lootboxes. Red Dead Redemption 2 is going to be a huge release, but so was Battlefront 2, and the latter was seriously marred by the controversy. Almost every review about the game says something along the lines of it being a great title brought down by the botched microtransaction system. Take-Two has a lot more riding on Red Dead Redemption 2 than EA had on Battlefront 2, meaning they might look at this example and make the Wild West free of “buffalo crates” (or whatever you want to call them). At the same time, there exist examples of lootboxes done well in the industry. We mentioned Assassin’s Creed: Origins above, which doesn’t turn into a money-sink (though we question the logic of lootboxes in a singleplayer title), and another prime example of non-trash lootboxes is Blizzard’s Overwatch. The key lies in giving players reasonable ways to acquire lootboxes without spending real money, meaning not pricing them exorbitantly, while keeping actual gameplay-changing content out of lootboxes. In Overwatch, everything is cosmetic, while in Battlefront 2, if some kid spent $400 on microtransactions, they’ll have access to heroes, better guns, secondary abilities and more. Based on GTA Online’s huge amounts of post-launch content, Rockstar will very likely support Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online with a lot more than just cosmetic DLC. Should the game incorporate lootboxes that give players advantages, it will likely bring with it its own controversy. Since we know that no microtransactions isn’t an option, the best methodology at this point would be copying the GTA Online system. Rockstar has proven their talent in game development more than enough times for us not to be worried about the quality of Red Dead Redemption 2, but the question of how monetization will be incorporated is still in the air. Take-Two Interactive is sitting in an advantageous spot where they know the game will sell well, so chances are they’ll ride that wave and hopefully give a pass on lootboxes. The post Will Red Dead Redemption 2 Jump On The Lootbox Bandwagon? appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

L.A. Noire has launched on the Nintendo Switch, bringing a Rockstar title to the hybrid console for the first time. Reviews of the game have thus far been fairly positive, though changes to certain terms used during the game’s interrogations are somewhat divisive. It isn’t something about the game itself that has gained our attention however, but rather a seemingly useless feature that suggests other games, possibly even Red Dead titles, will eventually come to the Nintendo Switch. L.A. Noire allows players to link their Nintendo accounts with their Rockstar Social Club accounts. The screens for this also have special graphical elements used specifically for the Switch and include references to the Crews system. Even though L.A. Noire is completely single player with zero Crew functionality. Crews function in a similar way to guilds or clans in other games, however in the case of Rockstar they are shared across games which include Crew functionality, though so far GTA Online has been the only game to make extensive use of the system. L.A. Noire lacks any kind of multiplayer functionality, and you can’t actually do anything with the Crews once you’ve linked your Rockstar Social Club and Nintendo accounts together. So why go to all the trouble of developing this system for the Switch when the only game to date on the platform won’t make any use of it? Simple – L.A. Noire isn’t going to be the only Rockstar game on the Switch. In the past, ideas that Red Dead Redemption might come to the Switch have been thought impossible due to hardware restrictions, but after L.A. Noire and the even more recently DOOM was ported to the handheld-hybrid, that no longer seems like a problem. What may be a significant issue in porting Red Dead Redemption is likely the same thing preventing a remaster – reportedly the assets aren’t accessible anymore and the game’s underlying code is a hot mess. However, we’d bet that seeing something on the Switch still isn’t off the table, and there’s always the chance that a platform exclusive spin-off might come in the future. Take-Two Interactive has been open about supporting the Switch from day one, so much so NBA 2K17 was used in the announcement trailer of the platform. Rockstar titles have a great amount of brand recognition and draw, making them attractive prospects for Nintendo, even if the ideologies of the two companies don’t line up particularly well. A remaster of one of Rockstar’s less successful and popular titles isn’t going to be the end of this particular relationship for sure. Rockstar has, in the past, been a strong supporter of mobile games, developing several exclusive GTA titles for the PlayStation Portable system, as well as the Nintendo DS. While they have plenty of popular titles in their backlog to remaster and port to the Switch, it wouldn’t be out of character to develop exclusive spin-off titles for the console. Based on Rockstar’s past, the Grand Theft Auto series would be the most likely candidate for Switch spin-offs. But with Red Dead taking the helm from next Spring onwards, developing something from that IP might seem more sensible. Skyrim’s recent launch on the Switch proved that popular old games absolutely have an audience on new platforms, meaning that if Red Dead Redemption does end up getting ported, fans would be all over it. The Switch has a unique quality of allowing players to take out games that were in the past restricted to PCs or home consoles and the prospect of a portable Red Dead Redemption would get fans buzzing. While all of this amounts to mere theorycrafting, the one thing we know for sure is that Rockstar is planning something with the multiplayer systems they’ve incorporated into the Nintendo Switch. That prospect alone spells out an interesting future for the developer, and a 2018 landscape that might yield more releases than “just” Red Dead Redemption 2. The post L.A. Noire On Switch Has Rockstar Crews Integration appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

Take-Two has struck it big with microtransactions in GTA Online. The multiplayer component of the legendary series’ latest installment has an insanely large player base of which an overwhelming majority often buy into the game’s Shark Card microtransactions. The game doesn’t even use your typical pay-to-win model with premium content accessible only by paying extra, as microtransactions only net you the same in-game currency that can be earned through missions, and yet they sell like hotcakes. Turning to the most recent NBA 2K release, Take-Two managed to strike gold twice. While the series has at times been criticized for going overboard with microtransactions, it has also been a financial success nonetheless. And beyond the sphere of Take-Two, many other AAA publishers have been enjoying major success with this model, Blizzard and Ubisoft being chief among them. Now it seems Take-Two wants to take things further and its recent quarterly investor call practically confirmed (albeit indirectly) that microtransactions – or “recurrent consumer spending opportunities” as CEO Strauss Zelnick calls then – will be in Red Dead Redemption 2. More specifically, they will be in every game that Take-Two Interactive publishes henceforth. For years now game publishers have been looking at ways to get existing consumers to pay more beyond the initial $60 purchase price for their games. The content used to achieve this has shrunk over time while the relative cost of doing so has grown. Expansions became DLC, DLC became much smaller DLC, and that became microtransactions. In the meantime, the content/price ratio has gone way up, with the same amount of money that used to buy a proper expansion with several hours of full gameplay content buying a mid-tier in-game currency pack today. During the early years that microtransactions were present in AAA mainstream titles they operated on the same whale-principle as mobile games. This meant that a tiny percentage of the player base would spend ridiculous amounts of money on microtransactions, while the vast majority of players would never touch them. Usually the biggest, most expensive packs were the “best sellers”. This has changed recently as consumer dynamics have adapted to a new environment. The buyers of microtransactions are now the majority of a game’s overall player base, and instead of relying on massive whale purchases, these systems thrive on the mass impulse purchases of the cheaper tiers. When every second player of a major game decides to toss $10 into some microtransaction, that adds up to a fortune. Ever since the announcement of Red Dead Redemption 2, fans have been concerned that the runaway success of GTA Online would prompt Rockstar to de-emphasize the singleplayer experience in favor of a more heavily monetized multiplayer mode. As Red Dead Online was announced simultaneously with the main game these fears did not seem totally unfounded, and the policies we’re reporting on today could add weight to them. However, as we also reported, a Rockstar employee recently clarified that singleplayer experiences are still a priority to them, so we shouldn’t worry too much about how Red Dead Redemption 2’s storyline will fare. The extent of microtransactions in the multiplayer section likely won’t outstrip that of GTA Online, simply because that existing model is proven to be so ludicrously lucrative. Why fix what isn’t broken? Returning to the investor call at hand, Zelnick was also asked how he thinks the release of Red Dead Redemption 2 will affect GTA Online, and his answer lines up exactly with what we’ve been saying – in no special way at all. Zelnick points out that Take-Two holds its releases to a high competitive standard, not only seeing their games as competing with those of other publishers but as competing with one another. This mentality sprang from the simple observation that market-wise, the release of a new game published by them affects their other games the same way as external rivals, and thus “Red Dead stands alone”. So the release of Red Dead Redemption 2 isn’t expected to affect the continued success of GTA Online or Grand Theft Auto 5 (which also recently broke 85 million copies sold by the way) in any significant manner. It seems that whether we’re speaking of future Red Dead or GTA games, microtransactions recurrent player spending opportunities are here to stay. The post Microtransactions Practically Confirmed For Red Dead Redemption 2 appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

Red Dead Redemption 2 fans have, until now, had some cause to be concerned about how the game’s single player campaign will be treated. GTA Online has been a spectacular success for Rockstar Games and its parent company, Take-Two Interactive, and many believe that success has come at the expense of single player expansions for Grand Theft Auto V. Fans are worried that a similar focus on the online component of Red Dead Redemption 2, Red Dead Online, might happen from the outset. However, thanks to an interview that Game Informer conducted with a high ranking Rockstar Games developer, we can put any such concerns to rest. Though the interview itself was mostly about the evolution and explosive success of GTA Online, a question arose about why GTA 5 never got single player DLC. This fact, that over the course of four years since launch, no new content has been added to the game’s solo campaign, has left many fans worried that Red Dead Redemption 2 might be even heavier on the multiplayer side, with resources accordingly diverted away from the single player component. Director of design Imran Sarwar revealed that GTA Online’s success didn’t directly cause the cancellation of the story DLC (we say cancellation because it was announced at one point), but rather the heavy load the company was under. Between developing Grand Theft Auto 5, developing an enhanced version of GTA 5 for more platforms, developing Red Dead Redemption 2 and also working on those other two unannounced projects we know exist, single player DLC just wasn’t something that fit into the pipeline. That said, if we look at this statement in light of the huge amounts of cash that GTA Online is raking in, as well as the serious post-launch attention it has been receiving content-wise, it isn’t hard to worry about what kind of a future this might mean for other Rockstar titles – and this is where the statement relevant to Red Dead Redemption 2 comes into the picture. We would love to do more single-player add-ons for games in the future. As a company, we love single-player more than anything, and believe in it absolutely – for storytelling and a sense of immersion in a world, multiplayer games don’t rival single-player games. This statement absolutely rings true considering Rockstar’s track record, with GTA 5 being the only GTA title with a multiplayer mode worth mentioning, and few other Rockstar releases having particularly memorable multiplayer modes. While many which did have some kind of multiplayer were finely crafted and worth praise, all of their titles that have achieved the status of being a classic did so on the merit of their single player content and world. Red Dead Redemption was no exception. Even though it had a highly enjoyable multiplayer mode with plenty of activities – it even got a DLC at one point – the game achieved fame and popularity due the legendary storyline of John Marston and other memorable characters players encountered when playing through the story. Gameplay is also a major element of that fame, though that is largely the same in the two modes. One of the earliest Red Dead Redemption 2 reveals what that the game will have a multiplayer mode similar to GTA Online. The Red Dead Online domain name was registered by Rockstar Games as well, soon after the game’s announcement. What (little) we’ve seen so far of the game – the two trailers and the one batch of screenshots – have all focused on the game’s single player mode, with the most recent trailer giving several clues to the actual storyline of the game, which is a major draw for fans. With all the connections to the previous game, to which this will act as a prequel, Rockstar has already set the tone – and thus, the expectations. GTA Online aside, GTA 5 is still hugely praised for its single player campaign, with a vast array of memorable characters, huge number of activities, three protagonists and an extremely detailed world. So Rockstar’s track record of legendary single player content has never been broken, and everyone will expecting something of the same calibre for Red Dead Redemption 2, as a minimum. Sarwar’s statement should go far in terms of dissipating many of the concerns fans have for the upcoming title. If all goes well, Red Dead Redemption 2 will launch with a strong single player campaign in Spring 2018. The post Rockstar Games Committed To Singleplayer Experiences appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

A year has passed since Rockstar first teased Red Dead Redemption 2 by posting an image of their logo’s outline in black over a red background. Soon, we’ll hit the first anniversary of the game’s official announcement. A year is a long time, and yet not a lot has happened in that span – at least, not much that the fans have been privy to. The Hype This is how it all began, a year ago.Rockstar already starts from an advantageous position in these matters, as the very name of the company will make a game sell copious copies. That said, these guys sure know how to hype things up, and prior to the actual announcement of Red Dead Redemption 2, they set the internet on fire with the most minor of things. Sure, it wasn’t a subtle way of teasing the game, but it sure was effective. They first performed the black-on-red color change for all their logos across all social media channels, then followed it up with a black-on-red text stating the date of the announcement itself. Everyone instantly knew what was going to happen, and it was wild. The Announcement After days of winding up the fanbase, Rockstar finally dropped the bomb. While it being Red Dead Redemption 2 surprised no-one (well, maybe the choice of name was a tad surprising), it still got all the fanfare of being a huge reveal. The game was shown off with a highly scripted and partially cinematic trailer with minimal voice-over. It practically revealed zero information beyond the fact that the folks over at Rockstar’s animation department are incredibly skilled – but the fans ate it up anyways. Theory-crafting went into overdrive with all the frame analyzing that the release of such a trailer demands. However, even the most dedicated of fans had to realize that Rockstar was very smart in creating the announcement trailer, which was evidenced by the complete and utter lack of evidence pointing to anything at all. We had no idea where and when the game was set. Nonetheless, the fandom was stoked and even when the fuel provided by the trailer ran out (and then, it lasted really long) the hype revitalized interest in the 2010 title, Red Dead Redemption, and discussion of that game kept things going. The game was going to be released in the Fall of 2017 anyway, so that’s not such a long wait, right? The Delay None of us actually guessed that this is the star of the game.…Wrong. It was kind of easy to predict, what with the complete radio silence on Rockstar’s part, not to mention their track record with delays. Painfully close to the original release window, Rockstar finally gave life signs and officially announced what we all knew to be true but hoped wasn’t – the game wasn’t coming in 2017. The new release window was designated to be Spring 2018, and luckily this hasn’t changed since. We’re hoping it stays that way. As a kind of consolation gift, Rockstar released the first batch of official screenshots of the game, which even included the new protagonist, though we didn’t know that at the time. After this, they retreated once more into their turtle shell of silence with a final promise of more info coming this Summer. The Tease of the Tease While you might not think it to be substantial enough of an event to get its own heading, this particular motion in Red Dead Redemption 2’s brief pre-release history exemplifies the whole situation around the game’s marketing mixed with the way modern marketing practices have begun to field promotion as a product of its own. Much like how full length trailers get shortened teaser trailers, Rockstar also teased a tease. On the very final day of summer with 4 hours to spare, they announced that they will announce something in a few days. Like… Bloody hell. The Trailer Every RDR2 fan was significantly more enthusiastic than Mr.Morgan is here.When finally Rockstar deemed it time to throw a scrap to the hungering ravenous fans, they were quite generous with the scrap. We got a lengthy trailer full of in-game footage, dialogue lines, busy scenes just begging to undergo pixel-hunting and some specifics about the story. Almost a year after the announcement we finally know something about the game we’re so hyped about. It’s a prequel! Dutch is in it! The protagonist is a new character called Arthur Morgan! Trains! Banks! Guns! Horses! And here we are – a year after the announcement, we’ve got two trailers, one batch of screenshots and a half-year delay. Yay? The post Red Dead Redemption 2 First Teased A Year Ago appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

Rockstar Games recently delivered the second trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2 and now we finally have some idea of what to expect in terms of story. We have a face and a name to attach to our protagonist, for example, and a vague idea of what the plot will be. However, the most concrete info the footage, which was full of scripted events, could give us concerns the game’s characters. The original Red Dead Redemption introduced gamers to a varied cast of well rounded and believable characters back in 2010 and it would be a shame not to see some familiar faces returning for the prequel (because we now know it is, in fact, a prequel). While the trailer switching between scenes rapidly and being pretty disjointed kept things somewhat mysterious, certain names were dropped and some faces were left recognizable. While most of the cast of Red Dead Redemption 2 seems to be made up of new arrivals – or at least that’s what Rockstar wants us to think – we now know for certain that two characters of the previous game will be appearing in some capacity, and both of them are quite prominent ones. However this time the tables have turned. In Red Dead Redemption, John Marston is sent after his former gang members, and two of his targets are Bill Williamson and gang leader Dutch van der Linde. There are others, of course, but these two are the ones who appear in the upcoming title’s trailer, and their mere presence indicates the title will be a prequel, because they wouldn’t be able to show up in a sequel. Dutch plays a prominent role in the trailer, having his name dropped, getting a few seconds of full-face screentime and appearing in multiple scenes. This indicates that he will play a central role in the game’s storyline, especially considering protagonist Arthur Morgan will be a member of his gang during Dutch’s active years. We’ll likely get some insight into how the gang operated before it was broken up. We might see what an idealistic, non-disillusioned Dutch was like before descending into hatred and madness. In fact, we may very well witness said descent from the front row, so to speak. Even with this second trailer, we don’t know any real details about the storyline, so we don’t know if there will be any twists forcing Arthur and Dutch to switch allegiances, however the trailer indicates the two will act as allies at least for a while. As a member of Dutch’s gang, Arthur will interact with the leader on a regular basis. The other returning character was only realized once the initial excitement wore off and fans initiated the obligatory frame-by-frame analysis phase of a trailer’s lifecycle. In one particular scene, even if only for a split second, another familiar face appears – Bill Williamson. Bill is John’s first target in Red Dead Redemption, and by the events of that game has founded his own gang. Bill was a member of the military before joining Dutch, and his leader’s gradual descent into madness had the same effect on him, leading him to become a particularly cruel and violent outlaw, not hesitating even for a moment to kill his former friend and comrade. Whether any other characters from the previous game will make a return is anyone’s guess. As was expected, Rockstar has retreated into its turtle-shell of radio silence, having fed the hunger fans with a juicy trailer for the time being. As time between now and the Spring 2018 release window decreases we can expect more info to arise – maybe including whether or not John will actually be in the game? The post Red Dead Redemption 2: Who’s Back appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

Yesterday’s Red Dead Redemption 2 trailer finally gave us starved fans some answers about the upcoming game. But, as opposed to expectations, it wasn’t accompanied by any kind of longer press release detailing further aspects of the game. We finally know a bit about the story, but gameplay specifics or information about the setting were not provided. The location is still mostly a mystery. The trailer itself does give several hints, however, based on which we can begin speculation. The main hint dropped is a voice line saying “We have lawmen in three states after us”, which indicates the game’s map will encompass three states in the US. Whereas Red Dead Redemption took place in the south of America, in a fictional version of Texas, as well as Mexico with the border cutting the map in half lengthwise, the upcoming game has been described as taking place in “America’s unforgiving heartland”. Now, depending on how literally we take heartland, Rockstar is sending us mixed messages. However, we shouldn’t take their words at face value, and the heart of America in this context probably isn’t the middle. The trailer’s vistas and that one leaked map from years ago both suggest the map will actually be located to the southeast of the United States. First guesses based on merely the “heartland” descriptor and nothing more would pin the map in and around Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri, which would place the action of Red Dead Redemption 2 far away from the setting of what is its continuation, Red Dead Redemption, since the upcoming game is a prequel. However a number of factors punch holes into this theory. The locales shown off in the trailer, primarily the location of a bayou obviously modeled on Lousiana, coupled with the fact that the story has direct ties to the previous (next?) game means the setting cannot be, at least entirely, set in those states. One theory is that the trailer has seemingly confirmed the legitimacy of the leaked map, pinpointing similarities and lining up locations. Settlement names, such as Cornwall have been aligned, as well as landmarks and geography lining up, such as the train tracks shown in the map seemingly appearing in the footage. The bayou being a similarity too. However, at the same time, a name like Cornwall on its own is too generic to be a big “a-ha!” moment of proof, and the other similarities just “seem” to correlate. The fact that the swamp was included does strengthen the case of the leaked map, as do some shared landmarks with the map from Red Dead Redemption, since the story will likely see us revisit at least a few familiar places. Another thing to consider is that the leaked map doesn’t seem to include all the biomes seen in the trailer, nor does the landscape of it fit a Western title. It’s mostly coastal and a large chunk is dominated by the bayou. Thing is, without knowing the scale of the leaked map, it gives the impression of being small, and doesn’t fit the heartland description. Our guess is that even if the leaked map is legit, two things make it an unreliable source to base theories on. Firstly, it’s very likely just a snippet of the map, possibly one of the three referenced states. It’s possible that the states which will comprise Red Dead Redemption 2’s world aren’t even bordering one another, and the map isn’t a single massive open world, but rather three large areas. Games have done this before, with early Assassin’s Creed games and more recently The Witcher 3 being good examples, and technically these are all still open-world games. Nothing Rockstar said so far indicates Red Dead Redemption 2 will be a single seamless map instead of three maps in between which you can travel. The other reason the leaked map’s legitimacy may be irrelevant is the time that has passed. The map first leaked over three years ago, which in game development time is a long time, and after all Red Dead Redemption 2 has also been delayed once already. Even if the map is legit, the chance that it hasn’t changed drastically in three years of development is small. It might be a good reference for theory-crafting and brainstorming, but you can be 100% sure that even if it was originally legit, the map will not look like that in the release version of the game. Another theory that comes from our own forums is that the three states in the map will be Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. These picks better fit the criteria of aligning with the trailer’s locations, being close to the locations of the previous game, and offering a wide variety of biomes. However, again it feels too southeastern to truly fit the “heartland” description. Our own theory is that none of these get the picture quite right, but rather the actual map will be an amalgamation of these ideas. We’re operating on the hypothesis that Rockstar isn’t sticking to a single massive map, but rather sectioning up the three states into their own maps, kind of like the regions of our previous example, The Witcher 3’s Skellige, Velen and White Orchard. Players worried this will mean three smaller maps instead of one big one need only play that game to have their worries quelled. Knowing Rockstar, this will mean that instead of one stupidly big map we get three reasonably big maps, the sum of which equates to more map than the one big one. Cutting up the game world in this manner would have several benefits. Rockstar could stick to real geography better instead of taking huge liberties with the landscape of the USA in order to cram wildly different biomes and environments next to one another, resulting in a desert, a swamp, and snowy mountains all being within 15 minutes by horse of one another, which is far from immersive and realistic. By making the three states three different maps, the developers can give all three distinct atmospheres and feels, fill them with unique animals and characters, set up unique character dynamics and develop independent side-stories for each that feel authentic to the location it is based on, drawing on real history. This would also remove the necessity of picking three neighboring states, allowing them to pick and choose the three which best fir their needs sans restrictions. Lousiana is pretty much a guarantee. With the iconic bayou and its gators appearing in the trailer, we’d be hugely surprised if it wasn’t used as the basis of one of the game’s fictional states. Let us swing back to the leaked trailer here – it showed a city called New Bordeaux as a faux New Orleans. This is notable because 2K’s Mafia 3 also featured a city called New Bordeaux as a faux New Orleans. Since it is also a game published by Take-Two, some took this as confirmation and an initiative to unify the two franchises and developers, however for others it was a red flag, and we fall into the latter camp. Since Red Dead Redemption 2’s story will focus on Dutch’s gang from the first game, but with a different roster since Arthur Morgan is involved, chances are some familiar locations will be revisited. Mexico is out of the picture based on the game’s description, so that leaves New Austin and West Elizabeth. This leaves the third state as a blank slate, and in that regard our guess is good as anyone’s. Hopefully Rockstar will be revealing further details about the game more frequently from now on, considering the Spring 2018 launch window is rapidly approaching and in spite of the new trailer, we still have a lot of questions about the game. When they do, we’ll see which of these theories turns out to be true. The post Analyzing Red Dead Redemption 2’s Possible Locations appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

Whenever a new trailer for a hotly anticipated game is released, the process of fans going over every single pixel of every single frame of the footage begins almost instantly, with many hoping to uncover some juicy additional details that the developers either hid or decided to leave in. With a game as hotly anticipated as Red Dead Redemption 2, you can bet people have already put stills from today’s trailer through analysis software back and forth, but we’re here to give you a frame-by-frame recap. Whether you’re here to do your own pixel-hunting, just want to look at some cool images from the upcoming game, or are looking for a sweet new Red Dead Redemption 2 themed wallpaper, you’ve come to the right place. The new trailer was 100% in-engine footage with no pre-rendered cinematics, and was captured directly on a PS4, so this is actually what the game looks like. Rockstar did a wonderful job capturing the vast scale and immersive atmosphere of their newest open-world title due to release in Spring 2018 (as reinforced by the trailer). The game world will feature a wide variety of environments for players to explore, ranging from dense forests, snowy highlands, swamps (with crocodiles!) and the obligatory desert. The trailer also showed off some of the gameplay mechanics that will be coming or returning to Red Dead Redemption 2, including train heists, bank robberies, hunting – now with a bow and arrow -, brawling and lassoing. Dual wielding has already been revealed by a previous screenshot, and the trailer heavily implies stealth getting more focus. We’re interested to hear what other gameplay specifics players can spot. For the first time the trailer also shed light on some story details, such as revealing the game’s sole protagonist Arthur Morgan, an outlaw who rides with Dutch Van Der Linde’s gang, thus confirming that the game is indeed a prequel to 2010’s Red Dead Redemption. Hopefully in the coming weeks we’ll get even further details about the game from Rockstar, but in the meantime, these images should last us a while. The post Red Dead Redemption 2’s Latest Trailer, In Pictures appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

Rockstar Games has revealed the second trailer for their upcoming game, Red Dead Redemption 2. This time around we saw more of the actual game, and more details of what to expect have been confirmed, some new things have been alluded to and there is plenty to speculate about, however fewer questions have been answered than we would have liked. Let’s look at the new information. The Answers The Protagonist The protagonist, singular – at least as far as we know – is an outlaw called Arthur Morgan. The trailer didn’t make it explicitly clear that he is the only protagonist, however he is the only named character, and his voice lines are featured most prominently. Rockstar’s official description of the trailer gives his full name as the trailer only refers to him as “Mr. Morgan”. The character is a pretty generic middle-aged gruff white guy with a stubble, however character-wise he seems like an atypical hero – mainly because he doesn’t seem to be a hero. Though vague, the trailer implies we’ll be erring more obviously on the side of the outlaws in this game, further reinforced by the description: Watch the all-new trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2, the story of outlaw Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang as they rob, fight and steal their way across the vast and rugged heart of America in order to survive. Coming Spring 2018 to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One systems. The Timeframe The question whether Red Dead Redemption 2 would be a prequel or a sequel was one of the most commonly debated questions in the past year, and this trailer has finally answered that question. Dutch Van Der Linde, the main antagonist of Red Dead Redemption and the head of the Van Der Linde gang, is seen in the trailer, and is seen to be somewhat younger than he was in the previous game, making this clearly a prequel. It being a prequel made more sense anyway, since Red Dead Redemption often returned to the theme of the “Old West” declining and the cowboy/outlaw era ending. The game’s setting was mainly 1911, which was already on the tail-end of the Old West era, and the game’s epilogue is set even further down the line, making a prequel mostly the only logical option, and finally this has been confirmed. It does make naming the game Red Dead Redemption 2 instead of Red Dead Re-something even stranger (especially since this is the third game, and Red Dead Redemption was the second), but hey, brand recognition matters. The Location While no concrete locations have been revealed, the voiceover lines indicate the game’s map will be spread across three states. Since the official description refers to the game’s setting as “America’s unforgiving heartland”, the location will be different from the previous game which was in the southernmost states and part of Mexico. Many of the shots in the trailer depict locations other than arid deserts, including snowy mountains, dense forests, swamps and fields. The biomes present in this game are going to be more varied than they were in Red Dead Redemption. The Gameplay Some of the gameplay beats of the upcoming title have been revealed as well. Lassoing horses and hunting are making a return alongside the absolute basics like brawling, shootouts and horse riding. Weapons will include your standard selection of pistols and other late 1800’s/early 1900’s firearms as well as a bow and arrow and various melee weapons. While it is hard to confirm details based on a trailer cut together from scripted events and cutscenes, it seems like stealth may play a bigger part in this installment of the series, and train robberies will be recurring events, as well as other typical outlaw activities such as bank robberies. The Story The largely disjointed snippets of dialogue didn’t reveal much about the game’s plot, but we do know we’ll be interacting with a mix of old and new characters. The storyline will mainly focus on the exploits of the Van Der Linde gang headed by Dutch prior to it being disbanded in Red Dead Redemption’s prologue. The story seems to be an antithesis to that of the previous game, which saw John Marston, a former outlaw, attempting to atone and redeem himself (title hint), whereas the trailer paints Arthur Morgan as someone relishing in the dastardly deeds of an outlaw. Whether he will have a change of heart during the storyline, or if Rockstar’s editors just cut together dialogue in a way to throw fans off the scent will only be revealed once the game is released. The Questions When is Red Dead Redemption 2 coming? This trailer, which is currently the newest and thus most up-to-date source of info, still just showed the estimated release date of Spring 2018, meaning we don’t have a concrete date yet. While that may be disappointing, we’re just happy it didn’t get delayed again. Whether or not Rockstar will keep to this date or later on push it back again is anyone’s guess, but Rockstar releases games on a Rockstar schedule, and ain’t nobody going to do anything about it. After all, the extra dev time is used to further polish the game, which is only good for us. Is John Marston In It? We have no idea. Rockstar is very likely keeping a tight lock on this particular detail, as it would be a pretty major reveal considering the character’s popularity. However, fan theories have cropped up already, some thinking that the voice line in the trailer saying “we’re going to need another gun” is referring to the recruitment of John Marston. The bottom line Our idea of just what kind of a game Red Dead Redemption 2 will be just got a lot clearer thanks to this trailer, however our questions still far outweigh the number of answers. We’re hoping this trailer opened the floodgates, so to speak, and we can expect far more information with less waiting between from now on. It’s time Rockstar started giving more detailed descriptions of gameplay mechanics and more, so we’ll keep an eye on the Newswire. The post Red Dead Redemption 2 Gets New Trailer appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

We’re just a few hours away from the big Red Dead Redemption 2 press release stream Rockstar teased some time ago, and the changes to the game’s official online presence have already begun, though they are pretty minor and easy to miss – however, they are indicative of what to expect during the stream itself. The new site, without the release date’s estimate.Red Dead Redemption 2’s official website has been pretty bare, with just the announcement artwork, a few paragraphs of vague description, the announcement trailer and links to pre-order the game. In addition, there was an estimate for the release date plastered across the site, stating that the game will be coming in Spring 2018 (which is the second estimate following the game’s delay). Today, the website went through a minor change – the release estimate is gone. The site no longer professes the game to be coming in the Spring of 2018, which means one of two things. Today’s stream will either reveal a concrete release date, or it will bring with it news of yet another delay. Red Dead Redemption 2 hasn’t been overmarketed, to say the least. While Rockstar has a tendency to do things differently, and conduct the marketing of their games in a rather eccentric manner. However, the way they handled Red Dead Redemption 2 up until this point is odd even by their standards, with the absolute minimum effort put into gaining publicity. Even when compared with the pre-release schedule of their previous big title, GTA 5, things seem slow. The old site.This general lack of information or communication from the developers led many to fear a second delay is coming, and the fact that we’ll get a major press release today doesn’t change that possibility. We’re seriously hoping it doesn’t happen, but the signs are not promising. Whatever comes of the stream, we do know that something will change about the release estimate. It may get more specific, or it might get pushed out. Keep your eyes on our feed as we will be covering the 11:00 AM ET press event as it happens. The post Spring 2018 Release Estimate Removed From Red Dead Redemption 2 Site appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

Rockstar may have missed the deadline which they themselves set earlier this year but we now know for certain that more updates are coming for Red Dead Redemption 2 on September 28th, Thursday, 11 AM eastern time. The gaming community at large going ballistic for a few white letters on a red background shows what happens when one of the most anticipated upcoming games in the entire industry has only a single trailer and a batch of screenshots to show for itself nearly a year after being announced. However, now fans are finally being given something concrete to look forward to. Rockstar’s signature full radio silence may be viewed by some as eccentric, but it can also cause a lot of frustration for the people who are passionate about their titles. It’s not just that we know nothing about the game, but we know nothing about why we know nothing, and we know nothing about when we’ll stop knowing nothing. A date and even an hour provided by the developers isn’t, by itself, much, but it is more than nothing. We know something will be finally revealed come next Thursday. But what might it be? However large or small the press release Rockstar is brewing, we’re fairly certain there will be some video footage. While details about the game itself with written explanations are more useful for players (and us), visual media tends to work better when it comes to generating hype, and after such a long dry spell, that is probably the number one priority. Considering Red Dead Redemption 2 is scheduled for Spring 2018, now is about time for bigger press releases from the developers which reveal gameplay specifics, story details and more. The time for the big articles which outline the various systems and mechanics of the game is here. Essentially, we haven’t seen the game at all so far. That might be fitting for Rockstar’s modus operandi, but when considering that many games accompany their announcement with some sort of gameplay footage, it isn’t ideal. pic.twitter.com/7iUdR4pE41 — Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) September 22, 2017 With such a long period of time with so little by way of marketing, Rockstar really needs to ramp things up and get more press coverage going both online and in print. That requires screenshots and videos as well as detailed information. While we’re not as optimistic as to expect a huge drop on Thursday, we do hope it’s more than just a handful of screenshots! Now let’s just hope this doesn’t get delayed to early October. The post Rockstar Games Teases New Red Dead Redemption 2 Reveal For Thursday appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

With so little official news about Red Dead Redemption 2 being available, discussion loops back to comparisons with Grand Theft Auto V and GTA Online time and time again. A recurring topic is that, seeing how successful the Shark Card microtransaction system of GTA Online has become, the same system is bound to be implemented in Red Dead Online, the multiplayer mode of the upcoming Western. But what if Rockstar jumps on the lootbox bandwagon instead? Lootboxes have become a commonplace method of distributing content in-game and is the AAA industry’s newest method of turning games into services instead of products you buy just once. The random nature of lootboxes coupled with designs that play on human psychology means these boxes can become highly addictive. The concept behind lootboxes is that instead of players buying specific items at an in-game store, they buy these blind boxes instead. All the items in the game have a percentage chance assigned to them and which determines their availably in the random lootboxes that players obtain. For example, if there are 100 total items available in the game, each lootbox contains two items, and the item you want has a 2% chance of coming up in a single lootbox slot, on average you’d need to open 25 lootboxes to obtain it (25 lootboxes x 2 slots = 50. 2% = 1:50). The use of this blind box approach to in-game items has become more and more common in recent years. Publishers like to use this relatively new method of monetization because it maximises recurrent spending from players. While selling currency will result in players buying the minimum required currency for what they need and purchasing those items, lootboxes remove the guarantee of actually getting what you want, occasionally forcing multiple purchases in cases where a single purchase of currency microtransactions would do. However, there is more to lootboxes. Naturally, on paper, this is something every consumer should hate. You’re paying real money for in-game content, but you don’t even know what that content is, or if it even is useful? Who would do this? That’s where the spectacle comes into play. The opening of lootboxes is dressed up in a way that makes the user feel rewarded. There are fancy animations, sound effects and unique cues for when a particularly valuable item pops up. You’re congratulated, and you feel like you accomplished something – even though you just paid $5 for a new skin for a character you don’t even play. I’m holding $15 right now, not counting the rings.Another way this spectacle plays into the allure of the lootbox is by pushing video game video sharing to its limits. To some people, the idea of watching another person play a game seems like nonsense – why not play it yourself? However, watching other people open lootboxes en masse in videos or even streams has become popular online. To add to the wealth of such videos on sites like YouTube, we’ve got an anecdote of our own. Two years ago at a one-week LAN gaming event, one day a particularly wealthy attendee made a show of opening 100 lootboxes in CounterStrike: Global Offensive in a row. A crowd formed around him, and they would cheer whenever a valuable item popped up. These people would be enamored by the idea of lootboxes, or being the guy who opens 100 in a row. These things are designed to hook players, to get them addicted. That small sense of accomplishment of games in the past when you, say, leveled up or defeated a boss, has been replaced by an insatiable urge, a base need, of opening more boxes to have shiny confetti shower on your screen. So where does Red Dead Online factor into this? Well, Take-Two’s policy of pursuing recurrent player spending is no secret. GTA Online thrives on Shark Cards, which see players paying real cash for in-game currency, and their recently released NBA 2K18 has an overwhelming number of microtransactions of its own. Red Dead Redemption 2 stands to be the company’s biggest release in years when it finally drops in early 2018 and this means there will have been no expense spared in making it the most polished game it can be – expense which needs to be earned back. Sure, GTA 5 broke even within hours of launch, however Red Dead isn’t as widely a known franchise, and while it’s guaranteed to turn a profit, Rockstar can’t be sure that it will end up bringing revenue for as many years as GTA Online has. Rockstar has always been known to stick with the times, if not be the very developer who leads the charge in various innovations. Lootboxes as a system to ensure recurrent player spending, in spite of what the vocal element of the gaming community says, have been proven to work. You may not think lootboxes are worth it, I may not think lootboxes are worth it, and no member of the Red Dead Redemption 2 subreddit or our forums may think lootboxes are worth it, but in the grand scheme of things, we’re irrelevant. For every major fan of Red Dead, for every player deeply involved in the gaming community, there are a few hundred casual members of the mainstream audience who will eat up lootboxes like candy. Oh, this Buffalo Crate (Bison Box? Supply Cache?) didn’t drop the color of horse I wanted, so I might as well pay five bucks for another. Ah, but I need another revolver for dual wielding, so there goes another fiver… This, however, doesn’t mean the end of the world. Though there are very few example where lootbox monetization systems aren’t exploitative, it can be done. So long as lootboxes can be purchased with currency earned through gameplay in addition to being bought, and thus not forcing players to shell out real cash (check out the Overwatch system, for example), it shouldn’t be too big of a problem. This would also necessitate a fair balance between the prices of lootboxes and the rate of earning currency in game. Of course, there is a real chance that Rockstar won’t step away from the system that worked so well for GTA Online, and simply use a similar microtransaction based monetization scheme. Summer is almost over, and in spite of Rockstar promising to reveal further information about Red Dead Redemption during the summer, we still know as little now as we did right after the delay was announced. Whether Rockstar will release something – anything – in the coming days is a slim bet, but we’ll be keeping an eye out nonetheless. The post How Red Dead Online Would Be Affected By Lootboxes appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

This isn’t the first time a Red Dead Redemption 2 open beta scam has made the rounds, and this one is as fake as the last. No matter how tempted you might be, do not fall for these phishing scams, as the only point is to extort personal information or money. Never in its history has Rockstar Games done an open beta, nor is it likely to. And it’s a certainty that there is not, nor ever will be, an open beta for Red Dead Redemption 2. A Twitter account with the Rockstar Games logo as a profile picture and official Red Dead Redemption 2 artwork with “Open Beta” photoshopped on as a banner has been set up to fool the unwary. But if you spend more than half a second looking at it, the red flags start flying. Instead of having a proper description like all official developer accounts do, it just has a link and some finger pointing emoji. This simple misstep is but the first in a series of obvious errors which make this a shoddy scam. The account’s location is set as Queens, New York, which is a location no Rockstar studio or office presides in. While this is not something most fans might know offhand, any non-half-assed attempt would have gotten it right. The account isn’t verified on Twitter either, but that still isn’t their biggest mistake. The scammer outright lifted the typeface of the Destiny 2 beta, spaceship icon and all, and pasted it over their banner in an unaltered state. Now, Destiny 2 is kind of a big thing, running in the same mainstream circles that fans of Red Dead are active in, meaning the target audience of the “interested in Red Dead but not fully versed in how Rockstar operates” people would still likely catch this error. Another blunder is in their terms of use. In an attempt to look more convincing, the website for the supposed Red Dead Redemption 2 open beta has a legal section. However instead of succeeding in cementing the illusion, it just adds to their embarrassment. It’s been copied verbatim from Microsoft legalese, with direct references to the Xbox One and Xbox Live in it. The extremely low amount of effort put into this is quite amazing. The activity of the account is another giveaway. There is only a single actual original tweet, pinned, which also holds a link to the scam site, besides which the account has only sporadically retweeted seemingly random posts made by genuine support accounts of renowned game developers – like Bioware, Blizzard, and Ubisoft. You’d think an account associated with Rockstar Games would retweet more of the main account’s content, but since this is a scam, they probably did’t want to bring attention to themselves. Now is a great time to reiterate a few key facts about Rockstar and scams. You should absolutely never, ever believe news or shady links about some kind of open beta test for any of Rockstar Games’ titles. In fact, don’t ever believe news of this kind that doesn’t come directly from Rockstar. If they haven’t confirmed anything officially, it isn’t guaranteed. Open beta testing isn’t something Rockstar does, and we don’t think that stance will change anytime soon. The best you can do in this case is to ignore the fake account entirely or report it to Twitter. We can’t do much about their website at this juncture beyond not giving them the info they want to scam us out of. The post PSA: Red Dead Redemption 2 Open Beta Is Fake appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

Between Strauss Zelnick’s longstanding support of the Nintendo Switch and the recent surprise announcement that L.A. Noire will be ported to the console, speculation about what other Rockstar IP might grace the console is afoot. Combine that with the hype around Red Dead Redemption 2 and it isn’t hard to figure out which franchise fans consider to be the most likely candidate for Rockstar’s next outing on the Switch. But will there be one at all? Without any kind of official info, all of this is speculative, however past events can assist us in dissecting this topic be more than a shot in the dark. Take-Two Interactive has openly backed the Switch from day one, with NBA 2K18 appearing in the console’s debut trailer, meaning it was only a matter of time until a Rockstar title appeared on the console as well. Between the IP held by the company’s two subsidiaries, Rockstar and 2K, Rockstar is the one with more mainstream reach, after all. However no-one expected the mildly successful and largely forgotten L.A. Noire to be the developer’s debut on the platform. The game was well received though it had some flaws, and was fairly popular among gamers. But it never reached levels of success akin to Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemption. The porting of this 2011 title, which features some snazzy facial animation technology and pretty-for-the-time graphics, means that Rockstar is confident in the hardware capabilities of the platform. As such, why wouldn’t the developers capitalize on the massive amount of hype surrounding Red Dead Redemption 2 and port 2010’s Red Dead Redemption to the Switch? There are actually some pretty good reasons why Rockstar wouldn’t and likely won’t do that. The first and foremost reason is the same reason why Red Dead Redemption hasn’t been remastered (beyond it being playable on current-gen consoles and still looking more than fine). Red Dead Redemption’s development cycle was a strained affair and it’s generally believed that the game’s code is somewhat of a mess. In addition, many fans and commentators alike believe that it was the assistance of Leslie Benzies which allowed the project to become the Red Dead Redemption we all know and love. Indeed, Rockstar’s programmers achieved a major feat, producing one of the best examples of an open-world title on such foundations. Porting Red Dead Redemption would likely be more akin to rebuilding the game from the ground up, something that would be far more resource intensive than a mere remaster. And so a project of this nature probably wouldn’t get the go-ahead from the higher ups. However, this may not be the only reason. We’ve recently speculated why the PlayStation Now service is the only way to access Red Dead Redemption on PC. It’s possible that Sony entered a clause into their partnership deal with Rockstar, which we’ve known about since the announcement of Red Dead Redemption 2, that gives them exclusive control over any form of the game’s distribution on PC. However, the full details of the deal are secret, and we don’t know whether there is anything in there that actually limits Rockstar and Take-Two in what other, further ports of the game they can create and sell. L.A. Noire was also announced for the HTC Vive as Rockstar’s first VR title, however Red Dead hitting headsets is unlikely due to the PC being part of the equation.That said, PSVR is another matter entirely. Summing up, Red Dead Redemption would be too expensive to port and Red Dead Redemption 2 is likely beyond the capabilities of the Switch. Since it’s improbable that Rockstar will dig up Red Dead Revolver, the only possibility for seeing the franchise on Nintendo’s hybrid console would be if an entirely new game, made just for that platform, is developed. A Red Dead spin-off title isn’t that extreme a concept. The upcoming Red Dead Redemption 2 is the third game in the franchise, and if it becomes as big a hit as suspected, it might solidify Red Dead as a mainstay Rockstar franchise next to GTA. If this were to be the case, putting together a spin-off for the Switch would of course be more attractive to Take-Two. While nothing is concrete, L.A. Noire’s unprecedented porting to the Switch sets the scene for further Rockstar titles to follow, and even though GTA may be a more likely candidate, we hope it is only a matter of time until we can enjoy the Wild West with Joy Cons. The post Could Red Dead Games Come To The Nintendo Switch? appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

Not even Cole Phelps would have seen this coming, though that might be due to the utter lack of clues leading up to the announcement. Out of nowhere, Rockstar Games has revealed that four new versions of L.A. Noire will be hitting online storefronts on November 14, with one of said versions flying in the face of what we thought parent company Take-Two’s stance on a new market segment was. The fact that L.A. Noire is getting remastered for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One isn’t all too surprising. Many games get the remaster treatment nowadays, so it’s pretty standard fare, and the original is six years old already – much younger games got remasters themselves. The Nintendo Switch version is more interesting and unexpected, but not the most surprising of the lot since Strauss Zelnick has spoken highly of the Switch in the past, and we knew Take-Two was on board from the moment the console’s debut trailer was published. The announcement which we wouldn’t have expected to see at all, ever, was that a cut version of the game is coming to the HTC Vive VR headset. If you’re asking yourself ‘wait, what?’ right now, we know what you are going through. Strauss Zelnick has spoken about the VR market before, not too highly either, doubting that the expensive hardware would catch on, implying that there isn’t a large market for the games developed for this platform. True, he said that if VR becomes viable, Take-Two will be there to back it up with games, but we didn’t expect that to come so soon. And we certainly didn’t expect L.A. Noire to be the first proper VR game to come from Take-Two. L.A. Noire enjoyed a successful launch and critical praise with some minor criticisms raised against it. It was well received but drifted into obscurity and has received scant coverage in the past few years. These remasters will give players who may have never even heard of the game a chance to experience it. The version coming to the HTC Vive isn’t a straight port like the other three, and is subtitled accordingly. The VR Case Files version of L.A. Noire aptly adapts only some – specifically seven – of the game’s independent and self-enclosed investigations. Many of the original’s mechanics would be ill-fitting for VR, and the investigations were where it shined anyway, which led to Rockstar picking this route with the VR version. The Switch port of L.A. Noire also features some additional kicks that the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions won’t. This version of the game will have contextual touch screen commands, gyroscopic controls designed with the Joy Cons in mind and tweaked camera angles for when you’re playing in portable mode. Rockstar doesn’t simply want to let you play L.A. Noire on a Switch, but to truly make the port a Switch game. The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions will have your regular graphical updates with sharper textures and new lighting systems, however one interesting tidbit is that the games will support 4K resolutions on the beefier versions of the consoles, meaning the PlayStation 4 Pro and the Xbox One X. Players will be able to experience the story of Cole Phelps, decorated World War 2 veteran and newbie detective as he takes on a new job in post-war Los Santos Angeles as a law enforcement officer on these new platforms. The game’s impressively animated faces were used to simulate even the slightest twitch of muscle in order to replicate the ‘tells’ of a lying suspect, leaving it to the player to judge whether what an NPC is telling them is true or not. We’re very glad that this announcement didn’t just get a ‘coming soon’ slapped on it. Not only did we get a release date, we got one that’s literally just around the corner. That leaves players just enough time to binge-watch the complete series of ‘Lie to Me’ as preparation. The post L.A. Noire Is Being Remastered For Switch, VR, Xbox One and PS4 appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

With all the hype around Red Dead Redemption 2, and also after five years of hearing about Grand Theft Auto 5 constantly, it’s easy to forget just how vast Rockstar’s library of great video game IP is. Well, now it appears that following the revival of their Wild West franchise, it might be time to sit back into the school desk. Bully is one of Rockstar’s stranger IPs, as it trades the standard danger-filled setting of the wilderness or big city for a quiet small town which is dominated by a school. Abandoning true violence for slingshots, gangs for cliques and cars for a bicycle, the game proved that Rockstar’s nuanced narrative style and satirical humor can come across without dropping f-bombs and spilling gallons of blood. Bully was well received by critics and fans alike, and while it broke no sales records, it has a cult following to this day. The game was remastered and re-released on various platforms several times, with the most recent release being on mobile. The game features boarding school student Jimmy Hopkins trying to climb to the top of the student hierarchy of Bullworth Academy. The game is open world much like most of Rockstar’s other titles, and filled with all kinds of side activities as well as collectibles. It is a fairly interesting world to explore, even if a little small. Those involved in the game’s cult following have been hoping to get a sequel for many years now – Bully was initially released in 2006 – with no sign of it happening. However, based on a recent report from GameZone, a sequel to Bully might be the follow up to Red Dead Redemption 2. Rockstar Games has followed a rough GTA-something-GTA-repeat pattern for the last decade, with Bully followed by GTA 4 followed by Red Dead Redemption followed by GTA 5 followed by Red Dead Redemption 2. This would indicate that we’re getting a new GTA game after Redemption 2. However, the hugely increased production costs and timeframe involved for massive AAA titles might push something of that magnitude into the far future, allowing a smaller niche release like Bully 2 to jump in sooner. The basis of the Bully 2 rumor comes from alleged inside information leaked from Rockstar by “someone close to the company”. While this is the game journalism equivalent of “my dad works for Nintendo”, similar leaks have turned out to be legit in the past, so while this should hardly be taken as confirmation, it shouldn’t be dismissed off-hand either. It would make sense for Rockstar to maintain its IPs with new installments, and even though it is dwarfed by things like Red Dead, in the grand scheme of things Bully has pretty wide brand recognition so a sequel would be starting from a favorable position, not to mention the press would be all over it. Over the past 11 years, the very concept of bullying has evolved and changed with the lives of students being increasingly digitized. If the sequel were a direct follow-up to the first game with real time passage, Jimmy would be far too old for the iconic school environment to persist, which is why it would likely concern a new character tackling the social food-chain of a modern day Bullworth Academy. We’d see much potential in a game tackling the satirization of cyberbullying, which is something rarely done and seems like an unspoken taboo of contemporary media. A modern day Bully interpretation would likely see slingshot pranks replaced with gaining access to the social media accounts of fellow students. Whether it’s the next title on Rockstar’s schedule or we have to wait longer for it to come, we’d certainly be excited to see another Bully game in the future. Only time will tell whether this particular rumor has any weight to it, or if it is just wishful thinking. The post Bully 2 Rumored To Be Rockstar’s Next Title After Red Dead Redemption 2 appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

We’re well into the second half of August and Rockstar has yet to reveal any new information regarding Red Dead Redemption 2, even though they promised new details to arrive sometime during the Summer. We’re very close to the first anniversary of the game’s announcement, and so far all we have is a single trailer and a handful of screenshots. Ideally we’d have much more. Many fans write off the lack of information as ‘just the way Rockstar does things’, and while it is true that they do handle things in an atypical way compared to most other AAA companies, fans need to understand that when it comes to marketing, Take-Two calls the shots. Simply looking at the other side of the Take-Two coin, 2K, you’ll find more usual marketing techniques. Take-Two wouldn’t want to see a reserved, eccentric take on marketing, and would prefer traditional pre-release marketing, simply because the latter works. Many people like to point at Grand Theft Auto 5 when rationalizing the complete lack of information or advertisements for Red Dead Redemption 2. But how did GTA 5 do this? Let’s look at the timeline. Grand Theft Auto 5 was announced on the 25th of October, 2011 (Rockstar likes October for this purpose, it seems, as Red Dead Redemption 2 was announced on the 18th of October, 2016), with a website going up and a trailer dropping one week later. Red Dead Redemption 2’s announcement trailer went up only two days later, so at this point Red Dead is ahead. GTA 5’s website was then updated weekly with little content blocks showing off details about the game and its world. This page can still be visited, with each individual block unlocked. Red Dead Redemption 2’s website is the same as it was almost a year ago. Once all the little blocks on the GTA website were revealed, there was a period of radio silence on Rockstar’s part. Then on August 20, 2012, Rockstar released a bunch of screenshots for the game, and two months later, an iconic piece of artwork via Gameinformer’s cover. It took a shorter wait for us to get some screenshots with Red Dead Redemption, as Rockstar released them alongside the delay notice. GTA 5’s delay, on the other hand, was announced almost one year after the game was revealed. The second GTA 5 trailer dropped in November 2012, more screenshots in December the same year, cover art and three trailers in April 2013, screenshots, artwork, the first gameplay trailer and other videos in July 2013, a GTA Online reveal trailer and final gameplay trailer in August 2013. The game was released on the 17th of September, 2013. So, if we look at the same timeline, things are pretty much the same, in fact, Red Dead Redemption 2 is ahead. Less than a year after release, and we already know the game has been delayed! All joking aside, players who say that GTA 5 also had so little marketing this early on fail to see one small issue with it. To demonstrate, let’s switch directions and trace back marketing from release. GTA 5 was released in September 2013. Red Dead Redemption 2 will be released, if everything goes according to plan, in the Spring of 2018, which at worst means May 31st. That gives us 9 months to work with, maximum. Nine months before release, GTA 5 had a concrete release date, 2 trailers, 3 sets of screenshots, 2 sets of artwork, interviews with developers and several gameplay and story details including spoilers from an official source. Redemption 2 has one trailer, one set of screenshots and a single piece of artwork. Correction: Spring 2018. Maybe. We still have pretty much zero idea of what the gameplay will be like beyond “a lot like Red Dead Redemption”. The only actual information we know is that there will be post-release DLC and a multiplayer mode, Red Dead Online. We know nothing of the story, not even how many protagonists there will be, where it will be set nor when it will be set. Even one year before release, GTA 5 has a lot more going for it in terms of marketing, meaning Red Dead Redemption 2 has a lot of catching up to do, if that is the plan at all. This is going to be Rockstar’s next big thing, and likely the biggest release Take-Two has planned for years to come, meaning it is absolutely crucial for it to be a hit. Marketing is a big part of that, and let’s remember that Take-Two’s CEO said that “Red Dead Redemption 2 will sell, whenever it is released”. What could this mean? “But random game journalist guy, it is too early to say that the game is getting delayed again!” – you think, as you put two and two together. You are, of course, correct. Mass media marketing for GTA 5, such a billboards, tram liveries, TV spots and clickable banners on every website even remotely related to digital entertainment only started closer to release. GTA 5’s main audience turned out to be the mainstream casual gamer, the kind that doesn’t read Gameinformer, or any kind of gaming news at all. Gamescom is still ongoing, the summer isn’t over yet and Rockstar still has a chance to fulfill its promise of more details. The full force of marketing still has some months to hit the streets, and it is wholly too soon to call the second delay. However, it is also important not to ignore the rather high possibility that some issue could arise and push the game’s release into the second half of 2018. Red Dead Redemption 2 has a massive base of fans awaiting any further breadcrumbs the developers are willing to throw them, and it will soon be time to kick this pre-release period into hype-overdrive – provided the game is actually coming when we think it is. The post Comparing Red Dead Redemption 2’s Pre-Release With GTA 5 appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

Red Dead Revolver, the first game in the Red Dead franchise, was released in 2004, meaning the GTA franchise had a seven year head start on it. However, this still wouldn’t explain the discrepancy between the number of games each franchise boasts. For just three Red Dead games, one of which is upcoming, we have 15 GTA games. So will Red Dead Redemption 2 kick off a busier future for the franchise, or is it going back on the shelf post-launch of the next title? The thing with Rockstar Games is that they’ve always been the “guys making GTA” with nothing else hitting the same level of popularity. Only Red Dead ever came close, and it’s looking better in terms of installments than most others. There are two Manhunt games and two Smuggler’s Run games, with most other franchises being standalone. Max Payne is the only one which matches Red Dead at 3 titles. While Red Dead’s few games is not unusual for Rockstar, another factor to consider in our comparison with GTA is how the developers changed their approach to development. Up until GTA 4, we got a new GTA game every one to two years, whereas we had to wait five years for GTA 5. Thus, the eight year gap between 2010’s Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2 is a lot less strange. Profitability plays a role as well. GTA has always been the massive money maker for the company, and while Red Dead Redemption was quite successful as far as games go, it still didn’t touch the records of most GTA titles. Naturally, Rockstar and Take-Two have a business incentive to push more GTA games. However, Red Dead Redemption 2 has been getting a lot of attention in spite of the sparse info that exists, meaning it may become a success greater than Rockstar expects. Take-Two has expressed a desire to ramp up AAA production, and while this mostly falls on 2K, they might want Rockstar to put out more games as well. Would monetary success in the release of Red Dead Redemption 2 be enough to guarantee more titles more frequently in the near future? The IP definitely has the potential to become a big money maker. Ports or remasters of Revolver and Redemption would definitely sell, spin-off games for other platforms would increase audience reach (Take-Two seems keen on supporting the Nintendo Switch. A spin-off Red Dead title would be a massive boon) and with the recent acquisition of Social Point, they have a hand in the mobile gaming industry as well. However, potential alone isn’t enough to carry a franchise. The question of Take-Two actually investing in such an endeavor remains. Red Dead Redemption 2 is carrying far more responsibilities than simply being a good game – it’s going to show the industry the new direction Rockstar Games is taking, it will be the torchbearer of the Western gaming genre and now, it’s monetary success will determine the fate of the entire franchise. No pressure. One possible pitfall that may doom the IP to sit on the shelf for another decade after Red Dead Redemption 2 is Rockstar’s and Take-Two’s aversion to rivalry – and if Red Dead becomes popular, they might see it as a rival to their prodigal IP, Grand Theft Auto. This dislike of competition is part of the reason why Rockstar generally skips video gaming press events and conventions. We’ve still some time to go before Red Dead Redemption 2’s delayed release date rolls around for a bit of speculation, however once the sales figures roll in after launch we’ll have a pretty good idea of where the franchise might go in the future. In the mean time, we can stare intently at a handful of screenshots while we wait for the next official breadcrumb. The post Will Red Dead Become a Mainstay Franchise? appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

Red Dead Redemption 2’s delay has left the tail end of 2017, much like the elapsed portion of the year, rather thin on new releases. While the timing of the delay has left Take-Two relying on DLC and the continued success of GTA Online, it has provided new windows of opportunity for other publishers. To contrast the delay in the absolute, Red Dead Redemption 2’s release is expected to herald a record breaking year for Take-Two in terms of revenue and earnings. The long awaited sequel to 2010’s Red Dead Redemption was intended to be this year’s big hit, ticking Take-Two’s check box for releasing at least one non-sports AAA title each year. That, however, went up in smoke when the title was pushed to early 2018 in order to win the developers more time for polish and tweaking. Said polish and tweaking won’t be affecting the game’s sales, or if they do, it will only be in a positive manner. In the past few years many high profile AAA titles suffered delays and performed well afterwards. The gaming community has learned that delays for the sake of further polish generally lead to the production of a better game. Red Dead Redemption 2 will steal the show when it’s released, whenever that may be. Right now, it’s scheduled for fiscal 2019 (April 1st, 2018 to March 31st, 2019) and slated to arrive sometime next spring. The game’s influence, coupled with the assumption that the baseline success shown in low-release periods like the current one holds up, allows Take-Two to aim for a record breaking year. Red Dead Redemption 2 will be joined by a game so far unnamed that’s coming from 2K, and is a new installment of a major franchise (though almost everyone suspects it may be Borderlands 3). Take-Two expects the coupling of these factors will propel fiscal 2019 to the top of their leaderboards, toppling all previously held records. Strauss Zelnick discussed the past quarter and the future of the company in a conference call with investors and some members of the gaming press recently. Much attention was paid to Red Dead Redemption 2, even though it was technically GTA Online which carried the past quarter on its shoulders to success. As a result of our stronger-than-expected first quarter operating results and improved outlook for the remainder of the year, we are increasing our fiscal 2018 outlook for Net Sales and net cash provided by operating activities. Looking ahead, we expect fiscal 2019 to be a record year for Net Sales and net cash provided by operating activities led by the launches of Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2 and a highly anticipated new title from one of 2K’s biggest franchises. We have a robust development pipeline and are better positioned than ever for long-term growth and margin expansion. Red Dead Redemption 2 slipping from 2017 isn’t a tragedy in any measure for Take-Two, based on the numbers they’ve pulled this last quarter, but that performance can mainly be attributed to GTA Online still owning the multiplayer scene. The game keeps making insane amounts of money, setting the bar ever higher for Red Dead Redemption 2. Fiscal 2018 is off to an excellent start, with our business’s positive momentum continuing to exceed our expectations in the first quarter. We delivered growth in both Net Sales and net revenue, as well as margin expansion. Our results were led by the ongoing extraordinary performance of Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online, strong demand for NBA 2K17 – which is now our highest-selling sports title ever – and increased recurrent consumer spending. In the past weeks, we’ve been getting what can be viewed as mixed messages from Take-Two Interactive regarding the projected levels of success they’re expecting from Red Dead Redemption 2 once it is released. On the one hand, Zelnick does not expect the title to perform as well a Grand Theft Auto 5 did back in the day when it was launched, but at the same time expects the game to boost the company’s fiscal year to record breaking numbers, presumably meaning beating the year that GTA 5 was released. Of course, it is important to consider that executives expect the next fiscal year to be a record breaker thanks to Red Dead Redemption 2 and that unnamed 2K title, but the fact of the matter is, if we compare sales figures from past games, Red Dead Redemption 2 will be carrying the revenue numbers to that goal. At the same time, the reasoning behind why it’s logical to assume the game won’t match GTA 5’s success is sound and plentiful, which is why this prediction seems a tad premature even in the face of the game’s overbearing hype and popularity in spite of the general lack of new information. That lack of new information is something Take-Two really doesn’t want to alleviate. When a direct question about what the possible future of the Red Dead franchise on PC could look like, or if there even was such a future, was asked, the answer provided was a masterful dodge. Initially, the question regarding Red Dead Redemption 2’s PC port was the second part of a complex question, and the execs simply didn’t answer it, but when pressed, they replied in general terms. The PC market is vibrant for us. It’s a core market, a predominantly digital market. So, for us, the PC market is very important and something we really focus on. Unrelenting, the gaming press members in the conference call pushed on. They managed to get snippets from Zelnick and co about how PC viability is determined on a case by case basis, and that the decision and any related announcements are ultimately up to the developers themselves. If we ever learn of a Red Dead Redemption 2 PC port, it won’t be through an earnings report. The PC issue is one that is guaranteed to haunt Rockstar, at least through community discussions, for as long as people consider the Red Dead franchise relevant. Hell, it’s been discussed ever since 2010, and the community efforts to convince the developers to bring the previous installment to PC are still on going, not to mention a reinvigorated effort to secure a port for the upcoming sequel. No Red Dead game has ever graced the PC with a full port, and currently the only way to get Red Dead Redemption running on the platform is through Sony’s PlayStation Now streaming service, which requires the payment of a subscription fee. The game played in this manner requires a Dualshock controller, is locked to 30 FPS and rarely actually hits that number. We’ve theorized that this is the reason why an actual port isn’t coming, as Rockstar and Sony’s deal might include a clause giving the latter a monopoly on Red Dead games on PC. We still don’t know a whole lot about the game itself. We’ve seen some official Red Dead Redemption 2 screenshots, but other than that there is only pure, fan-generated hype keeping this title in the news. Rockstar has promised more info during the summer and it’s already August. Many fans assume that the developers will subvert the status quo of skipping gaming conventions and use the upcoming Gamescom event to unveil further details about the game. The post Red Dead Redemption 2 Expected To Usher In Record Year appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

Not too long ago Ubisoft executives spoke about how not having to compete with Red Dead Redemption 2 in the upcoming quarter may be a boon to the sales of their own games. Now EA has joined them in speaking out about how the delay might be beneficial to their own performance, however with a slightly different take on things. While sharing a release window with a game on the level of Red Dead Redemption 2 is something most people would assume is daunting for rival publishers, it’s easy to forget that all players of the AAA industry face stiff competition all the time – just look at the Fall release schedule of this year. Even without Red Dead Redemption 2, there are still several huge and highly anticipated games on the menu, with some launching within days of one another. Competition is a reality of the AAA sphere that all publishers have to deal with and it wouldn’t have been a new situation for EA who release a high number of AAA games themselves each year. While EA CFO Blake Jorgensen did say that the delay of Red Dead Redemption 2 provides some opportunities, he also said that high profile releases can actually help all publishers, even if they’re not the ones releasing. What we’ve found historically, we’ve had many times where we’ve gone into quarters that looked daunting because of the competition. Think back to [Grand Theft Auto V] when it came out, and what we actually found is it grows the overall market. It drives console sales. Oftentimes, many of those titles get bundled to help drive or reduce the price of a console for the consumer, and it drives excitement in the marketplace, and we like that. It benefits the consumer and it benefits us because it generates a lot of buzz around games. The publisher sees the potential of highly hyped games to be gateway products into the medium for many potential fans. We often highlight how GTA 5 is predominantly a mainstream title with many people who play it, and only it – but how many of those people started out like that only to become hardcore gamers due to the influence of the title? The entertainment industry isn’t like most others were companies race to grab the customers away from one another. Typically, a person only needs one phone, for example, and every company wants to be the one to sell you that one phone. However, the typical entertainment consumer won’t be purchasing just one entertainment product and this changes the game. Publishers need to win customers, not steal them, and thus the promotion of any entertainment medium as a whole (like game consoles) is good news. Nonetheless, the delay of a game as massive as Red Dead Redemption 2 will grant EA’s releases some more breathing room, and Jorgensen isn’t blind to this fact either. So I don’t think it bothers us, but it excites us, I’d say instead. And you might remember, no [Red Dead Redemption 2] that was originally in the plans for our third quarter, fourth quarter of the calendar year, so that does open up a little bit of opportunity, I think, for everybody. While the Red Dead Redemption 2’s delay has resulted in a rather sparse release schedule for Take-Two, it’s not like 2017 will be thin on new releases going forward. There are plenty of other games to look forward to in the time before the Spring of 2018 rolls around. The post Red Dead Redemption 2’s Delay Opens Opportunities for EA appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

The gargantuan success of Grand Theft Auto 5 is both an achievement standing testament to the skill of the developers at Rockstar Games, and very likely a looming oppressor that instills doubt in the same developers while they work away on Red Dead Redemption 2. Even though these are two separate franchises, the upcoming Western title will inevitably be compared to GTA 5. The previous Red Dead game, Redemption, released in 2010, has sold approximately 15 million since launch. If we were to compare GTA 5 and GTA 4 (2208), the previous title sold around 25 million units whereas 5 is currently sitting at over 80 millio,n with a good chance of hitting further milestones. In an interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Strauss Zelnick spoke at length about Take-Two Interactive’s vision of the future, and that vision includes no small expectations for Red Dead Redemption 2 . However, even they don’t expect similar increases in installment to installment sales, nor do they expect sales to rival that of GTA 5. Analysts said as much as soon as the game was officially announced. The general consensus is that Red Dead Redemption 2 will be a huge success in its own right, but will not reach the levels of overwhelming mainstream popularity that catapulted GTA 5 to the top of the sales charts. What the team is doing is trying to make the best possible game they can, and if they succeed… Look, the reason, in my opinion, why GTA V has sold 80m units, and GTA Online had another record year 3-and-a-half years since its release, is because it stands alone in the generation. In every prior generation, there have been other titles that have clustered around GTA from a quality point-of-view. That’s clearly not the case now. If you are over 17 and you have a new generation console, you have GTA. Otherwise we wouldn’t have shipped 80m units. Can any other title achieve that? It seems unlikely. Do we have incredibly high hopes for Red Dead? We do. But we are not putting it in the context of GTA That said, the shadow of GTA 5’s success looms over the developers of Red Dead Redemption 2, even if it isn’t being cast by their superiors. Rather, it’s the community they might need to worry about. It’s no secret that the gaming populace is, more than occasionally, a toxic bunch of people, and a pervasive and quite harmful misconception that any sequel that doesn’t eclipse the predecessor is automatically bad is widespread. Even hitting the same bar isn’t good enough, it has to be better. Even though Red Dead Redemption 2 is a different franchise than GTA, the comparisons to 5 will be inevitable. The similarities between Red Dead Redemption and the typical GTA gameplay formula are so numerous that it’s easy to draw parallels, and it has been confirmed that the two share a fictional universe (along with Manhunt). One recent game that is widely ridiculed and considered a failure by many in spite of being a perfectly functional and highly entertaining game on its own merits is Mass Effect: Andromeda. Anywhere you look, you’ll see not only fans, but critics panning the title. It has its flaws, and it is perfectly reasonable to assume some genuinely disliked it on its own merits, but far too much of the hate directed at it stems from not one-upping the original trilogy. Generally, players and critics all agree that GTA 5 is an absolutely fantastic game with massive entertainment value. If Red Dead Redemption 2 turns out to be a very good, or even “just” a great game, you can bet some will write it off as a disappointment after GTA 5. Nonetheless, signs are pointing to a better future. In most recent cases, game delays have often characterized titles that ended up being well received – The Witcher 3 pops to mind, which was delayed several times, and ended up grabbing Game of the Year awards across two years. Somehow. Rockstar’s near spotless track recording when it comes to genre and generations defining masterpieces and legendary classics coupled with the general assumption that the delay will result in a more polished title is looking very good for Red Dead Redemption 2. In terms of sales, on the other hand – well, the facts that the game is grabbing so many headlines this far out from launch, even though we only have a handful of screenshots and a cinematic trailer speak for themselves. That said, some fans are worried about the extent of influence GTA 5’s success will have on the structure of the upcoming Western epic. GTA Online, the game’s popular multiplayer component, has been getting all the post-launch content, and the microtransaction system has, in the opinions of some, resulted in a grindy gameplay experience. One of Zelnick’s comments can sound a tad worrying in this regard. […]Obviously we know what Rockstar tends to do. And Rockstar’s activities have been transformed by Grand Theft Auto Online “Transformed” by GTA Online. That’s pretty telling what kind of direction the developers are looking at for their future games. It is possible that the delay of Red Dead Redemption 2 could be at least in part attributed to further effort being put into the multiplayer mode, Red Dead Online, which Rockstar announced alongside the main game. The direction they tale is the key here from a fan’s perspective. The Zelnick interview branched out into more general fields regarding Take-Two’s plans for doing business. With the new release date for the upcoming Western being somewhere in early 2018, the release schedule for 2017 is sparse. No Rockstar titles and very few 2K releases means this is a quiet year for Take-Two, much more quiet than they would like. The company planned on releasing at least one non-sports AAA title each year. In 2016, they released more than 6, and this year, none. 2K had a really good season this past year, but it was, for the company, still relatively thin. And it didn’t help that Battleborn wasn’t a big success. So part of it is the level of success, part of it is the schedule, and part of it is finding the human resources to actually take the intellectual property that we own and bring them to market. Those are an array of challenges, juxtaposed against the uncertainty of how long it takes to make a AAA title, which means we can find ourselves in fiscal 2018 with a much thinner schedule than we’d like Battleborn is Take-Two’s entry into a rapidly growing industry segment which marries the genres of MOBAs and team-based shooters. Other examples include Overwatch, Paladins and Paragon. Anyone following gaming news will know that Blizzard’s Overwatch has been leading the pack by a massive margin. 2K was really busy with game releases last year, including major titles like XCOM 2, Mafia 3 and Civilisation VI, however their schedule doesn’t have anything major lined up for the latter half of 2017. Likely, this is in part a planned move, as Take-Two wanted as little clutter surrounding Red Dead Redemption 2’s release as possible, allowing their flagship release to get all the limelight it needs. However, the delay seemingly messed up that plan, and instead of going strong with a heavy hitter they’re now looking at an empty year. Of course, this curse for them comes as a blessing for other publishers. Red Dead Redemption 2 is sure to steal the scene whenever it finally arrives, so from that point of view it isn’t an issue for Take-Two, they just like planning other releases accordingly. obviously fiscal 2019 will look much better with the launch of Red Dead 2 and a huge new title from 2K, as well as the 2K Sports titles, catalogue, recurrent consumer spending, NBA2K Online in China, Social Point and the like. We’ve already said that fiscal 2019, which isn’t that far away, is $2.5bn net sales minimum, £700m cash flow from our operations minimum… that’s pretty consequential Take-Two is looking to expand in the coming years into new market segments. We reported some time ago that many properties were licensed for film production, and that the company acquired established mobile developer Social Point. Additionally, Take-Two is trying to tap the creative resources of the indie sphere through acquisitions (Kerbal Space Program) or by entering joint projects, publishing and funding indie talent to turn their concepts into AAA productions. The aspect of these plans that will soonest reach fruition is, without a doubt, the mobile segment. Rockstar Games has already been porting old titles such as Bully and 3D era GTA games to mobile devices, however soon we’ll be seeing original content as well. Thing is, it likely won’t be based on Rockstar IP, but rather franchises from the 2K catalogue. David Ismailer, President of 2K, elaborated on this. Our focus right now is on our core two brands – NBA and WWE. Once we get those better positioned, I think there might be an opportunity to leverage some of our other brands in the mobile space This means that getting any new portable GTA titles in the vein of Chinatown Wars, or even a mobile Red Dead game, will likely remain a dream for many years to come. That said, the possibility is greater than it was ever before, so at least we’re getting there. In fact, there are some segments of the community who believe that in spite of expectations, Red Dead Redemption 2 might explode to become something far greater in terms of influence. We’ve said ourselves that generally speaking, the Red Dead IP speaks to a different market segment as GTA does. GTA is the very embodiment of the mainstream, whereas Red Dead is still mostly a core gaming property with little mainstream reach. If we assume GTA Online represents the future for that franchise, it means GTA will fully embrace the mainstream direction. In this case, Rockstar might use the Red Dead IP to maintain a hold on the core gaming audience, and use it as a vehicle to offer what GTA 5 didn’t – more focus on single player content, by which we mean DLC. If Red Dead takes on the mantle of Rockstar’s flagship IP while GTA is repurposed to be their mainstream revenue source, spin-off and branching cross-media products could follow, such as mobile games. Naturally, all of this is speculation, and unfortunately, some of Zelnick’s comments once again seem to speak against it. He is very much aware that Take-Two has shifted priorities from the core gaming segment to a much wider audience. We have gone from a company that focuses on hardcore gamers, to an entertainment enterprise that is expressed through interactive entertainment primarily, but there may be other areas that has nothing to do with games. I would argue that the league really has nothing to do with interactive entertainment, because it will be linear entertainment for most of the people involved. They’re watching it, they’re not interacting with it. We’re not calling it a different market, but that is what it is Not only are core gamers no longer the primary audience, but the audience as a whole now includes non-gamers. This is a direction that was made abundantly clear with the way GTA Online evolved over the course of three years, but Red Dead Redemption 2 will be the true indicator of what kind of a company Take-Two has become since then. At the end of the day though, to the Red Dead fans, all of this means two things: Red Dead Redemption 2 may turn out to be a much more multiplayer and mainstream oriented title than many long-time fans expect, and that Take-Two’s desire to release more games more frequently is aimed primarily at 2K and the new mobile market, not Rockstar. Chances are the time between the next Red Dead game after Redemption 2 will be as long, if not longer, as it was between 2010’s title and the upcoming one. The post Red Dead Redemption 2 Not Expected To Match GTA 5’s Success appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

While the recently announced delay of Red Dead Redemption 2 to early 2018 is sad news for fans (unless they consider it time well spent perfecting the game of course), it is a breath of fresh air for all of Rockstar and Take-Two’s competitors who feared severely diminished sales in the latter half of this year due to the highly anticipated Western title. Ubisoft is among those relieved by the delay and this should come as no surprise. In spite of being a leading figure in the gaming industry with several highly popular AAA franchises under their control and one of the strongest E3 presentations this year, Ubisoft is going through hard times right now. A hostile takeover attempt by fellow French multimedia company Vivendi, who formerly owned another industry leading developer and publisher Activision Blizzard, is underway. Not a year ago Ubisoft published an open plea towards fans and investors alike to help them out, either by buying shares away from Vivendi, or simply by buying their games instead of pirating them. Ubisoft CFO Alain Martinez spoke about the effects of the Red Dead Redemption 2 delay on Ubisoft’s upcoming quarter during the company’s latest investor call, and detailed how it will help the performance of their games on the market. Clearly the fact that there is no Red Dead Redemption [2] is a positive for our fiscal year 2018. This is something that we had taken into our [financial] assumptions. So the absence of that game is of course giving us a better window for the launch of some of our games. Ubisoft has projected some favorable increases in sales with up to 34% improvement over the previous quarter. Some analysts were puzzled by this, however Martinez clarified that the figure included the delay of Red Dead Redemption 2, as well as allowing for specific launches such as Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, Season 3 in For Honor and another expansion pack for the popular team based shooter Rainbow Six: Siege. Additionally, later releases this year are some of Ubisoft’s biggest franchises coming back from long breaks. After two years, Assassin’s Creed is back with Origins, taking the stealth action series to ancient Egypt. Joining it is South Park: The Fractured But Whole, the follow-up to The Stick of Truth which was also delayed several times. Both of these games have been anticipated for a long time and have avid fanbases. Assassin’s Creed in particuar is widely thought to be a blockbuster in the making. However, had Red Dead Redemption 2 stuck to its projected release date of Fall 2017, both of these titles would have suffered for it in terms of sales. As it shares the open-world nature of Red Dead Redemption 2, Assassin’s Creed: Origins would have suffered the most since the target demographic is largely the same for both games, leading to most players buying Red Dead, playing it for months, then grabbing Origins at a discount, if at all. Nonetheless, this won’t be actively affecting Ubisoft release schedules, meaning that the company didn’t choose to pounce on the now unmuddied period of Fall 2017 to release games planned for other dates. Game releases are meticulously planned in advance for optimal sales based on an extensive market analysis. Red Dead Redemption 2’s hype train is chugging along unhindered despite the lack of official news since the delay announcement and screenshot dump, further standing testament to how popular this game managed to become even before launch. The title is sure to steal the show for months once it’s finally released, and any game unfortunate enough to share launch month will suffer for it. The post Red Dead Redemption 2 Delay A Boon To Ubisoft appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

It appears that gamers aren’t the only ones who have been wishing for the Red Dead franchise to make its way to PC after all these years, it’s game developers too. Luckily, the latter can do a whole lot more about the situation than the former, and Wild West Online was born. The developers, 612 Games, are a team of industry veterans with a passion for Western games. But will the project live up to expectations? As mentioned above, the link between Wild West Online and Red Dead Redemption goes beyond both games sharing a setting. WWO is the direct result of Red Dead Redemption inspiring a group of people who decided to create their own Western game exclusively on PC to fill the void left by John Marston’s adventure, as well as whatever the sequel is in store. Wild West Online was officially announced on May 11 2017. However the day just before that announcement one of its promotional screenshots was leaked early and mistaken for a screenshot of Red Dead Redemption 2. It was only after the official announcement of the game that it became clear another Western title is on the block. Obviously, the first question that rose in everyone’s minds was whether it is even viable to release a Western game so close to the release of something as major as Red Dead Redemption 2, but there are a few things going in WWO’s favor. Firstly, while Red Dead Redemption 2 has only been confirmed for Xbox One and PlayStation 4, WWO is coming exclusively to PC, meaning the markets for the game are completely different. Additionally, WWO is a full-on massively multiplayer online game, so it fills a different niche than Red Dead Redemption 2, which (we hope/think) will primarily be a single player experience with an additional multiplayer mode called Red Dead Online. The dev team, 612 Games, have prominent members of the gaming industry in their team, with people who’ve worked on games like the Crysis series, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Star Trek Online, Neverwinter Nights, Hawken, Ryse and The Darkness. With a solid lineup of heavy portfolios, they also carry weight with investors which is why this isn’t a crowdfunded project. So far, all the ingredients for a great game are there: experience, talent, passion and a budget. The Western genre is woefully underrepresented, so there is plenty of space for two games, especially on different platforms. However, there is a red flag flying, albeit a small one. The game uses a game engine which was developed for War Z, one of the worst disaster stories of the indie gaming industry, and is supported by a company owned by one Sergey Titov, who is widely blamed for that debacle. Nonetheless, the signs are promising, and the jittery animations of the gameplay video that was just released can be chalked up to this being the alpha version of the game. The developers plan on releasing free DLC post-launch, in a season-based model similar to some of the “live service” multiplayer games that follow this mentality. The game boasts a massive map, with its biomes set to be expanded further with Mountainous and Mexican regions as DLC. Regular missions will be joined by a reputation system, allowing you to be either a ruthless outlaw or a valorous deputy. Players can visit saloons for a few rounds, some gambling, or possibly some adult entertainment on the upper floors, while cities will also boast general stores and gunsmiths. In the wilderness, a dynamic day/night cycle will vary the way you play by bringing about different gameplay conditions. During the day, there is a greater measure of safety during your adventures, while night time brings the perfect opportunity to camp and rest, or ambush unsuspecting enemies under the cover of darkness. Some of the proposed DLC will be adding night-only missions with a great variety in objectives. But, how will this game measure up to Red Dead Redemption 2 This is the question everyone will inevitably ask even though the two games are essentially different genres and on different platforms. When there are just two Western titles on the horizon, they will be compared no matter what. Fact is, even with the kind of experience the people working on Wild West Online have, they still won’t get a measure of investor interest or funding to match the insane amounts of resources that Take-Two and Rockstar Games can mobilize. Big budgets aren’t everything though, and passion and skill often count for more. Thing is, Rockstar packs both of those qualities in plentiful supply too. At the end of the day, Red Dead Redemption 2 will end up a more polished product benefitting from a single player campaign, whereas Red Dead Online alone will also be able to match or better the experience of Wild West Online. There is likely a reason why 612 Games isn’t even considering a console launch – they’re picking their battles. The tentative release date of Wild West Online is December this year, with alpha and beta stages spread out between now and then. Whether the game lives up to the expectations it sets for itself, and whether it can truly scratch the Red Dead itch that PC players have, is anyone’s guess until then. The post Red Dead Redemption 2 Rival ‘Wild West Online’ Shows Off Gameplay appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story

While it’s far off from being an absolute confirmation, a recently announced change coming to the PlayStation Now streaming service might be an indication that Red Dead Redemption 2 will be playable on PC at some point. Just not via a proper port of its own. The PlayStation Now service is a subscription-based streaming library which allows subscribers access to a given number of PlayStation 3 titles on either their PlayStation 4 consoles or on a PC (with a dualshock controller hooked up). The service has a rather large and expansive library and subscribers are given access to all of the games – you don’t need to buy them on top of paying subscription fees. While this offers a legitimate way of playing PlayStation 3 exclusive releases without the PS3 console itself, many users who have accessed the PS Now library on PC often report dodgy performance. Very high-end internet connections, both in terms of speed and stability, are needed to stream the games decently, and even then the best you’ll get is 30 FPS and dodgy controls with some limited functionality. Red Dead Redemption is included in the PlayStation Now service, thus marking the game’s debut on PC. This is a less than stellar way to play the game, however, it’s the only way to go if you want to play Rockstar’s Western epic on your PC. Yesterday though, the PlayStation Now library was expanded with PlayStation 4 titles, none of which were available through the service previously. This move pushed said library past the 500 game mark, but more importantly, it holds much potential for the future and is relevant for Red Dead fans for two reasons. One good, the other bad. First of all, based on the fact that Red Dead Redemption was made available through the service and that Rockstar and Sony have some kind of deal going on, Red Dead Redemption 2 will likely make its way to PS Now eventually, and thus it will be playable on PC. This is the good news. The bad is that it could mean a proper PC port of the game will never arrive. This deal the two companies have with one another is likely the reason why the previous title isn’t coming to PC amid the hype for the sequel. With all the buzz around Red Dead Redemption 2, releasing a remastered version of the 2010 installment on PC would have made ludicrous amounts of money. People are already pining for new Red Dead content, especially with the delay that was recently announced, and there really wouldn’t be any better way to cope with waiting than by playing a graphically upgraded Red Dead Redemption running on PC. However, the fact that PS Now is involved means that Red Dead Redemption will definitely never make it to PC as a proper port, and possibly Red Dead Redemption 2 neither. The reason is simple – the moment an actual port is released, with keyboard, mouse and 4K support, graphical options and an uncapped framerate, everyone will buy and play that, and no-one would use the PS Now version. The Red Dead name has massive recognition and draw, and we suspect many a PS Now subscriber is currently only paying because of that particular game being available. By having a monopoly on Red Dead games on PC, the appeal of the PlayStation Now service is boosted significantly. And while no details of the actual deal between Sony and Rockstar are publicly known beyond PlayStation 4 players getting early access to post-launch DLC, maybe it contains something about no proper PC port being released while the partnership is still running. If that’s the case, let’s just hope it doesn’t run forever. The post PS4 Games Coming To PS Now, Might Mean Red Dead Redemption 2 Will Stream On PC appeared first on RDR2. Read the full story