The past few weeks have not been kind to Red Dead Redemption 2 fans, particularly those still playing Red Dead Online. Many fans were upset with the July 2022 update, as they had been for months prior, while Rockstar stayed quiet on the lack of concrete content for Red Dead Online. Now, the company has come out with a blog detailing its plans for the online game.
In short, Rockstar plans to slow down on Red Dead Online as it shifts its focus to Grand Theft Auto 6 because it understands the expectations for the latter. Red Dead Online will still be getting “autopilot” content, but no major themed updates or content expansions. Rockstar has essentially confirmed that Red Dead Online is going on life support mode, which it was essentially already on, but it’s good to hear it from the horse’s mouth.
As a result, many Red Dead Online players had begun planning its “funeral” over the past few days, deciding on today, July 13. This has caused RedDeadFuneral to trend on Twitter, as players make plans for the day. Today’s date was seemingly chosen because it marks the one-year anniversary of the Blood Money Update for Red Dead Online, and it seems players will be honoring the game in a variety of ways.
As seen in the many tweets about it, some players are going to visit the mountains one last time in Red Dead Online. Others are encouraging players to have a few beers at Valentine or Blackwater Graveyard, while many are just visiting the latter to honor Red Dead Online’s memory. Some are just posting to social media, while others plan to play properly one last time.
Indeed, it seems the community has selected this day as one last hurrah for Red Dead Online before they move on from the game. What should be clear is that Red Dead Online is not being taken down by Rockstar, but with nothing concrete planned for its future, there’s not going to be anything new to do for players. It’s hard to imagine how this would impact Red Dead Online’s player count, in the short or long term, but the Red Dead Funeral plans have spread rapidly since the Rockstar Games blog post.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a critical and commercial success, but Red Dead Online never took off like GTA Online. Perhaps Rockstar couldn’t support both, perhaps the overwhelming commercial success of GTA Online forced Rockstar to continuously lower its priority on Red Dead, or perhaps there are unknown factors at play here. Many are upset to see Red Dead Online laid to rest in such a way, but in its memory, they are paying their proper respects today, July 13.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is available on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.
