Red Dead Redemption Fans Protest Release They're Calling Overpriced, Lacking New Features

Red Dead Redemption's newly announced PlayStation and Nintendo Switch release could have been a cause for celebration among the game's dedicated community, but instead fans are up in arms over today's news.

This morning, Rockstar revealed that 2010's Red Dead Redemption and its Undead Nightmare expansion are coming to PS4 and Nintendo Switch on August 17, with physical editions to follow on October 13. Rockstar is calling the port a "conversion" rather than a remaster or remake, and the company is charging $50 for this iteration of the game.

Red Dead Redemption players on social media are upset about Red Dead Redemption's price, missing multiplayer, and lack of a PC release. It doesn't help matters that rumors about a Red Dead Redemption remake have been flying for weeks following a fresh rating for the game in South Korea. Fans got their hopes up over a full-blown remake, with many clamoring for a version that would put the original in line with Red Dead Redemption 2, in a similar manner to how The Last of Us Part I is now visually similar to Part II.

Red dead redemption, what we wanted:
– Remake, the map is in rdr 2 already
– 60 fps
– Dualsene features
– Only current gen version (Ps5, Xbox series, good PC)
– The ultimate version

What we GOT:
– a 30 fps port
– no 60 fps
– no remake or remaster
– Rockstar not caring ☹️ pic.twitter.com/8BWHtK7SEM

— Pyo 5️⃣ (@mrpyo1) August 7, 2023

But that's not what Rockstar is delivering. Instead, fans are disappointed that Red Dead Redemption on PlayStation 4 and Switch appears to look visually similar to the original PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. Rockstar also didn't announce 60 FPS support for the new port, leading fans to believe it will run at the original game's 30 FPS. The problem became even more glaring when the community realized that Red Dead Redemption is already playable on Xbox Series X in 4K, which was quickly pointed out online.

ICYMI: Red Dead Redemption runs at 4K on Xbox Series X and at 1440P on Xbox Series S via the Heutchy method. pic.twitter.com/3fovNtpRh3

— Klobrille (@klobrille) August 7, 2023

Thanks to the Xbox Series X|S' more robust backward compatibility with previous generations of Xbox, Red Dead Redemption has been accessible on Microsoft's platforms for years. This new release is not coming to Xbox, but that's surely because the original 360 version is available right now on the Xbox store. In addition, the $50 price tag attached to the new PS4 and Switch versions doesn't look great next to the $30 price tag over on Xbox.

"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," one user wrote on Reddit. "Really sad day when the top post on r/reddeadredemption is 'Don't buy red dead redemption,'" another wrote.

This upcoming port is also skipping PC entirely, where Rockstar has still not officially released Red Dead Redemption.

The Red Dead Redemption "remaster" is the biggest disappointment of the year. A direct port of a 13 year old game with zero changes for $50.

Such a great game to be mistreated so harshly. Also no PC release???

Bag was fumbled HARD pic.twitter.com/jVuEjE5yYo

— Matt (@Matthasnocuts) August 7, 2023

Fans are calling the port a "cash grab", with one of the top posts today on the subreddit reading, "Do not buy Red Dead Redemption… If you want a proper remake/remaster then don't buy this cash grab." The post points out that the port appears to lack signifiacnt graphical and FPS enhancements, and is missing the original's multiplayer mode.

And, of course, today's announcement also brought plenty of memes, as some made jokes of the fact that Red Dead Redemption is coming to a Nintendo platform for the first time.

red dead redemption on the nintendo switch pic.twitter.com/XxzekyhNn3

— jake (@AC_Roald) August 7, 2023

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over seven years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.