New Red Dead Redemption locks out Xbox

Yikes, it looks like another L for Rockstar Games, as the recent announcement of more from the world of Red Dead Redemption fails to live up to expectations. We all got our hopes up for a new-gen Red Dead Redemption remaster, but instead, we get a pricey port for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. 

We’ve been burned before with Grove Street Games’ underwhelming GTA Trilogy: The Definitive Edition, and while 2010’s Red Dead Redemption is well overdue a remake, there are accusations of just another cash grab port. Thankfully, Xbox players are getting away from this one.

Xbox players are safe from the Red Dead Redemption port

On August 7, Rockstar gave the surprise announcement that Red Dead Redemption and its Undead Nightmare expansion are coming to PS4 and Nintendo Switch digital stores on August 17, with physical editions following on October 13. Each will cost $50, and as it’s called a “conversion” instead of a remaster, fans are fuming.

As well as being a 30FPS port, it doesn’t include multiplayer and won’t be available on PC. It’s possible that 60FPS support will be announced at some point, but it’s not looking likely. With this in mind, savvy cowboys have noticed that an Xbox version is being missed for a very good reason.

Klobrille points out that Red Dead Redemption already runs at 4K on Xbox Series X and 1440P on Xbox Series S via the Heutchy method. If you don’t know, Microsoft Software Development Engineer Eric Heutchy created the ability to upscale Xbox 360 games. It doesn’t work on all titles, but RDR is capable of hitting 4K. 

Players respond to the Red Dead Redemption port

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Double Eleven Studios

With many of you already playing a 4K Red Dead Redemption on your Xbox Series X, this is another win for the Green Team. As reiterated by IGN, the $50 price tag on Switch and PS4 hardly seems worth it when compared to it costing just $30 on Xbox.

You can save even more, with someone on Reddit writing, “I bought the GOTY edition for $10 to play at 4k on my One X. $50 for a simple port on a 13yo game is something else.” Another added, “I bought it digitally on Series X for like $8 months ago.”

Offering another option, a third said, “Check out Xenia Xbox360 emulator for PC. I was running RDR1 on PC at 4k 60fps flawlessly. They’ve been working on this emulator for years, and it’s in a really good place now.” It’s not just Xbox owners, though.

Someone concluded, “Don’t buy it, emulate the 360 and play it for free without supporting Rockstar’s sh*tty practices, it’ll also run uncapped at whatever fps your pc will allow.” It’s true that Double Eleven Studios has an impressive history of developing ports, but for now, we remain unconvinced.