In an announcement that is probably not altogether that surprising, Rockstar Games has officially confirmed that Red Dead Redemption 2 has been delayed until the Spring of 2018.
The game was originally slated to be released this Fall after an initial announcement that it was in production in October last year.
The news comes in the wake of two separate rumors (that have now been disproven) concerning the game. One concerned an allegedly leaked screenshot that was later revealed to be from a different game altogether. Second was a rumor about a live action trailer being shot in Montana for an upcoming Western. But then that turned out to be for Far Cry 5, as confirmed by the recent teaser for the game welcoming players to "Hope County".
This outlaw epic set across the vast and unforgiving American heartland will be the first Rockstar game created from the ground up for the latest generation of console hardware, and some extra time is necessary to ensure that we can deliver the best experience possible for our fans.
Rockstar's official statement indicates that the delay is due to Red Dead Redemption 2 being the first game developed by the company entirely for the current-generation of consoles. This is as opposed to Grand Theft Auto V, which was merely ported to the new systems. Instead, Red Dead Redemption 2 will be developed entirely for the new hardware, allowing Rockstar to take advantage of the greater resources in ways GTA V could never have. To display just how much advantage they are taking of that new hardware, Rockstar showed off a couple of screenshots from the game too (check out the full gallery here).
As for new information about the game itself, Rockstar hasn't revealed anything just yet. But we do finally know when to expect some kind of press release, and we won't need to wait long. New information, and hopefully gameplay footage, will be shown off sometime this Summer, which makes us hopeful for a possible E3 appearance. While E3's have usually been skipped by Rockstar in the past, they have shown off games there a few times and we feel that Red Dead Redemption 2 is a big enough deal to warrant a change in tradition.
Many players who have been hotly anticipating the sequel to Red Dead Redemption are likely disappointed. However, at the same time many have expressed, in advance of today's news, that a delay wouldn't sadden them, since it merely means the developers are taking the time to create the best game they possibly can - something Rockstar Games has done before with GTA V, and the results speak for themselves.
Alas, our wait continues.
