Over the past few days, the rumor mill has been churning out potential news of remasters for Red Dead Redemption 1 and Grand Theft Auto 4. However, it seems the focus is on Grand Theft Auto 6 as Rockstar has scrapped its remasters, at least, for the time being.According to a report from Kotaku, the remasters were scrapped due to a number of reasons. Primarily, Rockstar is focused on the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series, although there is no release date yet. The other reason behind scrapping them is based on the poor reception of 2021's Grand Theft Auto Trilogy and the debacle that took place before its release. Leading up to the release, Rockstar took down fan mods and removed the existing versions of the game before returning them to the Rockstar Store after fan outrage.However, there may be some light at the end of the tunnel for Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto hopefuls. The Kotaku report mentions that Rockstar may revisit the idea of remastering the previously mentioned games after Grand Theft Auto 6 ships. There currently is no release date for Grand Theft Auto 6 as it seems that Rockstar is looking to avoid crunch and similar time-related issues it faced during Red Dead Redemption 2's development cycle.
As these are just reports, it's best to take them with a grain of salt. Rockstar is known for taking its time to develop games, and with no release date planned for Grand Theft Auto 6, it may be quite some time before the Red Dead Redemption 1 and Grand Theft Auto 4 remasters become a legitimate possibility.
The art of remastering and remaking games has taken the video game industry by storm lately after the success of remakes like Resident Evil 2. It's no surprise that Red Dead Redemption 1 and Grand Theft Auto 4 have their names tossed around in the rumor mill so often because those titles have been regarded as some of Rockstar's greatest works.
An interesting point to note is that based on Rockstar's track record of taking its time during development, it also seems that this may be revisited as an act of good faith. If so much time passes before Rockstar announces the remasters, it feels like it's banking on gamers forgetting the mess its previous remaster attempt created.
Red Dead Redemption 1 is available now for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 while Grand Theft Auto 4 is available now on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
Source: Kotaku