Horselopnik or: How The Current Era of Online Gaming Might Ruin the Red Dead Redemption Sequel

"StingrayJake" (stingrayjake) 05/27/2016 at 09:30 • Filed to: Off topic, video games, red dead redemption

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There are some rumors flying around that a Red Dead Redemption sequel is finally in the works and might even be shown off at E3 next month. But here’s why I’m only kind of excited for a follow-up to my all-time favorite game.

[Note: I’m bumping this for the morning crowd.]

Rockstar generally makes good stuff. The old GTA games were fun. GTA 4 really brought the series into a new era of open-world gaming and Red Dead Redemption cranked it up to 11 with an environment that really felt alive.

While Redemption’s single player campaign had a great story and was a lot of fun, its multiplayer was really the starting point for the direction Rockstar has gone with its big franchises. Redemption kind of got the whole open-world multiplayer thing started. You could exist in that big, wide-open western landscape with a bunch of other players, all doing your own thing.

GTA 5 had a great single player mode too, but Online was always where Rockstar wanted people to play. It took what Redemption did as far as an open-world multiplayer experience and applied absurd in-game prices to anything worth having. How do casual players find the time to grind for in-game cash to get that awesome car or gun? Rockstar’s answer: Would you like to use a microtransaction to get that item now?

As much as gamers complain about things like freemium and microtransactions, it’s always interesting to see these things end up generating a ton of revenue for companies. In fact, they’ve been a huge success for Rockstar, generating $500 million in revenue as of April.

Granted it’s been three years since its release and it probably saw a boost with the Xbox One and PS4 re-releases, but that’s a decent chunk of change for what I think has been underwhelming content. After all, outside of the Heists, we’re not talking about massive DLC releases here with new story elements, locations and experiences.

My fear is that this focus on Online revenue generation will damage what could be an otherwise very good single player experience in a new Red Dead Redemption game. Sure, GTA 5 still had a solid and entertaining single player mode that can still be fun (to an extent) after the story missions are done. But this is a new era of gaming.

Just look at Battlefront. The game released with no story campaign, a very limited single player element, and only four basic maps. The backlash was bad enough that EA released the first DLC for free and gave gamers a couple new maps. Yet it still sold 12 million copies. And to be fair, the last two Battlefield games have had awful, pointless and short story campaigns, and DICE had reasons (the release of The Force Awakens and the marketing blitz that went with it) for skipping the story. A new Battlefront is coming, potentially with a story campaign... though I wouldn’t expect it to be especially good. It’ll still arguably out-sell Battlefield 1.

While a new Red Dead game would most likely not skip a single-player experience, I could see it losing priority to revenue-generating Online. Will single-player be fun? Probably for a little while. And Online will probably have entertaining possibilities, but I don’t have the time to grind for cash the way I used to. And I don’t like paying for in-game cash, especially in a game I already paid for. Heck, I don’t like doing it in free mobile games.

In short, I think Rockstar’s new-found affinity for microtransactions could make Red Dead 3 not very fun in either single or multiplayer.

FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem > StingrayJake 05/26/2016 at 11:47

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I’m still waiting for that GTA V story mode dlc. Or at least the damn online exclusive content like the lowriders. Pls R*, plsss

JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t > StingrayJake 05/26/2016 at 11:50

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You’ve basically summed up all my fears about upcoming videogames here. That and the death of split-screen multi-player are making me sad. Y’know what I like to do? Sit on the couch WITH my GF and play a game TOGETHER. These days we’re basically limited to fighters (Ok for a while, but they get old eventually), Battlefront (which is pretty much only good for deathmatch, due to the lack of story) and the Borderlands franchise (which we have finished). :/

Scary__goongala! > StingrayJake 05/26/2016 at 11:53

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I tried playing RDR online. I’d join a game and couldn’t accomplish anything because I was always getting sniped by some random asshole. Hopefully the campaign doesn’t fall short. The map has already been leaked.If its that good it will be the game that finally makes me get a Xbox 1.

jariten1781 > StingrayJake 05/26/2016 at 12:01

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Some companies will dump everything into draining the well via microtransactions. Some will take the new earnings stream to bulk up the core experience and engender customer loyalty.

I’m not too worried about it...then again I don’t do microtransactions and would be perfectly content playing all the awesome stuff I missed from previous gens if your worst fears come true and all that existed going forward was nickel and diming.

StingrayJake > jariten1781 05/26/2016 at 12:12

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I certainly home the extra revenue helps Rockstar make a better game. I’m just afraid it’ll make Rockstar want to make more extra revenue.

StingrayJake > Scary__goongala! 05/26/2016 at 12:13

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Yeah I wasn’t a huge RDR Online player. Just messed around a few times. Single player had plenty to do to keep me busy for a year or so.

rb1971 ARGQF+CayenneTurbo+E9+328GTS+R90S > StingrayJake 05/26/2016 at 12:32

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One of my favorite games of all time. I’m not a multiplayer person, but I got all of the cheevos for single player and a lot of the multiplayer ones as well. Also contained one of the best zombie games as DLC.

I hope they stay close to the original.

Jayhawk Jake > StingrayJake 05/26/2016 at 12:46

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This all sounds like it was written by someone who didn’t play GTAV.

Rockstar’s last game, GTAV, had a fantastic singleplayer campaign. Meanwhile, years later, Rockstar is still releasing free updates to the multiplayer.

StingrayJake > Jayhawk Jake 05/26/2016 at 13:09

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I did play GTA 5. Single player was great, but it never went beyond what launched with the game. There was no single player-focused DLC and the existing content gets old after awhile. At the end of the day, you’re still funneled to Online.

And those free updates for multiplayer? Cars, guns, clothes — relatively cheap and easy content. Basically the kind of stuff you’d see in any freemium game. Heists were obviously different, but even that released nearly two years after the original game dropped, right?

While those cars and such were free to download, you still had to come up with large amounts of money in-game to purchase them. And for casual players who don’t put in a lot of time grinding, Shark Cards are pretty much your only choice.

Point is, the whole experience is meant to funnel you toward buying Shark Cards. I’ve been bagged on before here for complaining about DLC releasing outside of a season pass so I’m sure I’ll get bagged on again for complaining about this.

LongbowMkII > StingrayJake 05/26/2016 at 14:00

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Red dead would be astonishing on this gen hardware. I worry about the future of offline single player games, they seem to no longer be the focus.

Aside: I was underwhelmed by GTA5 by the end of it. I wish there was a new city/region to explore using the GTA5 mechanics. Like Texas(dal/hou/Aus). There are plenty of material to satirize there. Hipsters, rednecks, yuppies, bros, cartels, transplants... It can go on forever.

TheJMan92 > JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t 05/26/2016 at 14:14

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Death of split screen is what bums me the most. Micro-transactions? I don’t like them, but I can avoid them. Bringing home a new game that’s fun to play in multiplayer? Awesome, until you can’t do split-screen. It can’t be that hard to add, come on devs!

StingrayJake > LongbowMkII 05/26/2016 at 15:12

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I’m just sitting her twiddling my thumbs waiting for Red Dead Redemption to be made backwards compatible on Xbox One. Hopefully they’re not waiting for the sequel to release.

LongbowMkII > StingrayJake 05/26/2016 at 15:28

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I wouldn’t mind a new title for this gen even with a wait.

Now I'm jonesing to play redemption again. Thanks.

StingrayJake > LongbowMkII 05/26/2016 at 15:37

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The Red Dead sequel/prequel map that leaked was apparently still just an art direction concept so we could be waiting another couple years anyway. So yeah, Redemption needs to be playable soon.

Jcarr > StingrayJake 05/27/2016 at 09:50

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Yes, this is spot-on. I’ve really enjoyed GTAV. Enough so that when I got an XB1 last fall, I bought another copy of it so I could play on current gen. However, the all out focus on online and those absolutely ridiculous prices have totally turned me off. I haven’t touched GTA since Fallout came out and I’m going to be very wary of the next GTA release.

StingrayJake > Jcarr 05/27/2016 at 10:15

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I do wonder how they can entice people to buy in-game cash for a western game. Will it translate from GTA to Red Dead? Unique weapons and outfits are about all I can think of because the horses in Redemption were largely expendable, especially in multiplayer.

Jcarr > StingrayJake 05/27/2016 at 10:24

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Given the profits they’ve reaped on GTA, there’s no doubt they’ll find a way to do the same in Red Dead. It would be stupid of them not to.