Don’t take your headlamps off and start polishing the revolvers—Rockstar Games has officially confirmed that Red Dead Redemption 3 is in the works. The announcement may not yet warrant marking your calendars, but this news has caused ripples in the gaming community.
Do you remember when Red Dead was just a less-known title called Red Dead Revolver back in 2004? It was nice, but nowhere near the juggernaut, it’s become. Then 2010 rolled around, and Red Dead Redemption blew everyone away. It completely changed the game for what we expect from open-world adventures.
Then Red Dead Redemption 2 arrived in 2018, it was a masterpiece as they took what was great about the first Redemption and dialed it up to eleven. Who didn’t lose countless hours exploring, hunting, and accidentally falling off cliffs with your horse?
Considering how long it took to develop between Red Dead Redemption and its sequel, fans should temper their enthusiasm with patience. Rockstar Games is also neck-deep in the development of another game you may have heard of—Grand Theft Auto VI. Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar’s parent company, cautioned fans not to expect the third installment anytime soon.
During last year’s Jefferies Virtual Global Interactive Entertainment Conference, Zelnick compared Rockstar’s major franchises, including Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto, to the James Bond series. “If it’s really, really great, it will keep going,” Zelnick stated. “You would like every franchise to be James Bond.”
Zelnick emphasized the need for quality and deliberation in game development, “It also requires you to be thoughtful and willing to rest the titles,” he said. He warned against annualizing non-sports titles, stating that doing so risks “burning out the intellectual property.”
Rockstar appears committed to its strategy of producing groundbreaking titles while allowing for rest periods, ensuring that each new installment is seen as a “special event.”
Although we don’t have much info about Red Dead Redemption 3 yet, Zelnick did drop some hints about what Rockstar is thinking. Like Grand Theft Auto, they see Red Dead as a long-lasting cultural release. These games have the potential to become classics that endure for generations.
Based on their track record, Rockstar will undoubtedly pull out all the stops. Expect some wild storytelling, game mechanics that make you go, “Whoa, did they just do that?” and an impressive world that makes you forget what reality is.
