The Red Dead Redemption remaster is canceled, a new report from Kotaku says, along with the long-rumored Grand Theft Auto 4 remaster, both of which Kotaku’s Zack Zweisen said were in development for several years. It corroborates a rumor from Rockstar leaker Tez2 that surfaced on July 4 and confirms the reason was, indeed, the poor reception of Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto Trilogy – Definitive Edition in late 2021.
Fans and critics lambasted the trilogy for the countless bugs and performance issues that plagued it upon release, everything ranging from broken models to rogue cars crashing into characters during important cutscenes, typos, strangely rendered rain, and more. It makes sense most people were less than happy with the way the trilogy shipped, but it seems like Rockstar is rather missing the point as to why the remakes reportedly performed poorly.
It’s not the end of the line for a Red Dead Redemption remaster, though. Zwiesen said his sources at Rockstar believe the publisher may revive the projects at some point in the future. For now, though, Rockstar is focusing all its resources on the beleaguered Grand Theft Auto 6, which other reports suggest has seen several shifts in production and even restarts over the past several years.
And then again, they may not be revived at all, even after GTA 6 launches. Kotaku’s sources said these two projects might not be “out of scope,” but future remaster projects are facing greater scrutiny after the disastrous definitive edition launches.
It’s a bit of a blow for anyone hoping to revisit – or visit for the first time – the later exploits of John Marston after the Dutch gang falls apart, but Red Dead modders are at least keeping Red Dead Redemption 2 alive and well (even while Red Dead Online suffers). One recent effort overhauls the entire Red Dead world, adding new character behavior and encounters, updating the weather system, and more.