An absolute juggernaut of a publisher/developer hybrid, Rockstar Games is responsible for creating a handful of the greatest video game franchises ever made. Of course, Rockstar's most beloved and well-known franchise is Grand Theft Auto, and the company has spent decades building the brand up, forging it into the goliath of entertainment it is today. But coming in a very close second is Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption series, which has become a monumental hit in its own right.
Debuting back in 2010, the first Red Dead Redemption came at a pivotal point in Rockstar's life, coming just a few years after GTA 4. As such, Red Dead became a showcase of just how far Rockstar's open-world formula could go, going on to inform a great deal of GTA 5's own design. And one of the biggest points of influence for GTA 5 was Red Dead Redemption's online mode, with GTA Online becoming an integral part of Rockstar's business model but ultimately being something that Red Dead Redemption 2 couldn't quite nail down. If and when Red Dead Redemption 3 happens, all eyes are going to be on its online mode, and Rockstar needs to knock it out of the park right away.
Red Dead Redemption 3's Online Mode Needs to Do Better
On its initial launch, Red Dead Redemption 2 had the world at its feet. Before launch, the hype surrounding Red Dead 2 was insurmountable, and that only continued to grow more intense when reviews started to pour in. Red Dead Redemption 2 received unanimous acclaim across the board, with its story, characters, gunplay, side activities, and setting all being praised to high heaven. When fans finally got their hands on the game, it lived up to expectations and even exceeded them in many ways. And this only made the imminent release of Red Dead Online all the more exciting.
As mentioned up top, the first Red Dead Redemption came in between Grand Theft Auto 4 and 5, and as such features a mix of both games' online components. While GTA 4 offered the first Rockstar online sandbox, Red Dead Redemption refined it in many ways. Though the map could feel a tad empty with its lack of activities and long loading screens, nothing beat that feeling of hunting down a rival gang of players and chasing them across the entire map. For 2010, Red Dead Redemption's online mode offered an experience like no other, and it's only natural that Rockstar used this as the basis of its wildly successful GTA Online.
Over the course of the last decade, GTA Online has become one of the highest-grossest pieces of media ever created across all entertainment industries. Taking the groundwork laid by GTA 4 and Red Dead, GTA Online offers a gigantic sandbox for players to explore and interact with each other in, along with countless side activities and missions. And with the extreme success of GTA Online, it only makes sense that Rockstar would want to replicate it with Red Dead Redemption 2's online mode.
Released a month after Red Dead Redemption 2, Red Dead Online wasn't quite the immersive experience fans were hoping it would be. On launch, Red Dead Online suffered from a severe lack of content, and though Rockstar would eventually update it with more missions and open-world activities, it was a too little too late, and the vast majority of players had dropped off. Rockstar ended major support for Red Dead Online back in July 2022, but GTA Online is still going strong. Out of the gate, Red Dead Redemption 3's online mode needs to be excellent, and Rockstar needs to prove that to fans before release. Only then will players feel confident that Red Dead Redemption 3's online mode won't repeat the same mistakes as its predecessor.