With GTA 6 as Its Focus, Rockstar Needs to Make One Thing Painfully Clear

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home January 17, 2025 30 Views 7 Min Read
With GTA 6 as Its Focus, Rockstar Needs to Make One Thing Painfully Clear



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Rockstar Games is one of the most prestigious and successful companies in the games industry, and that prestige and success are only likely to grow when Grand Theft Auto 6 eventually releases. The next chapter in the wildly popular open-world crime franchise is still slated for a 2025 release, and it will probably be the biggest game of the year regardless of its quality (which will presumably be quite substantial). Indeed, GTA 6 is the game to watch in the coming months. Excitement for GTA 6 would have been through the roof regardless of Rockstar’s output post-2013, but the remarkable creative and commercial success of Red Dead Redemption 2 helped send it into the stratosphere.

Red Dead Redemption 2 represents a massive leap forward for not just Rockstar, but the gaming medium as a whole, thanks to its unprecedented attention to detail and visual fidelity. Even now, nearly seven years later, the game’s technical accomplishments cannot be overstated. Red Dead Redemption 2 also served to reaffirm Rockstar’s commitment to great storytelling in games, assuring audiences that it hadn’t abandoned cinematic single-player experiences in favor of quasi-MMOs like GTA Online. All of these factors are elevating hype for GTA 6, but more than anything, RDR2 has left players hungry for more wild-west outings from Rockstar.

Red Dead Redemption 2 Faction

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Red Dead Redemption 3 Could Turn One RDR2 Faction On Its Head

The Red Dead Redemption world is home to a few key factions, and one could be seen in a totally new light in a hypothetical third entry.

Rockstar Needs to Set Expectations for the Future of Red Dead Redemption

Red Dead Redemption 3 Is Still a Mystery

Given the worldwide success of Red Dead Redemption 2, one would assume that a third game is in the pipeline, but such an assumption might be a bit too hasty. Perhaps the biggest roadblock standing between Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Redemption 3 is the possible premise of the latter. RDR2 being revealed to be a prequel to the first game was certainly a surprise, especially since it seemed like Red Dead Redemption was positioning Jack Marston to be the new protagonist, but it wound up working out for the best. Now, Rockstar would have to choose between two paths: make Red Dead Redemption 3 an actual sequel, perhaps one centered on Jack, or make it another prequel, following the Van der Linde Gang during its glory days.

One could argue that Rockstar has a third option for RDR3: follow another character, like Charles or Sadie, as they embark on a bold new adventure. But this premise would be more like a spin-off than a proper Red Dead Redemption 3, and it has its own risks as well, as being a good supporting character is vastly different from being a good lead.

These premises could make for a lackluster follow-up to two of the best games of the 2010s, though. For one thing, there’s not much of a “wild west” left for Jack or anyone else to explore by the time Red Dead Redemption‘s epilogue ends, and Jack becoming a lifelong outlaw would be potentially underwhelming, as it undermines the journey his father went through. A prequel to Red Dead Redemption 2 could be even worse, as it would rob the Van der Linde Gang’s history of much of its ambiguity, not to mention the lack of tension that would result from knowing basically everything that is going to happen to the Gang from the first two games.

It Would Behoove Rockstar to Confirm or Deny Red Dead Redemption 3

Despite the aforementioned narrative struggles facing Red Dead Redemption 3, many in the gaming community seem to assume that this game will arrive at some point after GTA 6. Rockstar could perform a magic trick, writing its way out of the corner it has ostensibly gotten into following Red Dead Redemption 2, or it could simply lay the franchise to rest, allowing it to go out on a high note. But the expectation should be set regardless, so that audiences aren’t left forever wondering what the IP’s next move is going to be.

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