Red Dead Online players have known for some time that Rockstar Games' priorities lay in different directions. Rockstar still delivered irregular updates of substance, including monthly events and new missions expanding existing content. But major content updates akin to what Grand Theft Auto Online received were few and far between. Now the inevitable next step for Red Dead Online has arrived. In its tentative plans for Red Dead Online in 2022, Rockstar is confirming that it's winding down development.
To be clear, support for Red Dead Online isn't fully concluding. Rockstar starts by making clear that there is new content coming to Red Dead Online through the rest of 2022. That starts with continued monthly events, such as bonus RDO$ and XP for completing certain missions and other incentives and discounts. Further, Rockstar has plans to deliver new Telegram Missions in 2022. In terms of content plans, that's all Rockstar has to offer this year.
What that means is that Rockstar isn't planning to deliver anymore themed content updates, game modes, Specialist Roles, missions, or other content at this time. As explanation, Rockstar says that it has been "steadily moving more development resources towards the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series." Rockstar says it did this with the belief that it needed to "exceed players' expectations" for the next GTA. Obviously, Red Dead Online players had their own expectations, but expectations for the larger game won out.
Fans of Red Dead Online can hardly blame Rockstar, of course. Grand Theft Auto Online is one of the most popular, and lucrative, games in the world. The Grand Theft Auto franchise is one of the most successful in the video game industry's history. Red Dead Redemption has always been more of a Rockstar passion project, made to let the development team explore its creativity between Grand Theft Auto projects.
Rockstar closes out its post about its Red Dead Online plans for 2022 by thanking its community of players for all the constructive feedback. It says that this player feedback has been "instrumental" to the success of both Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Online. Further, it will help Rockstar with projects in the future.
Red Dead Online players will be able to continue to play as normal, regardless of whether much in the way of new content is delivered. That Red Dead Online exists and is as excellent an experience as it is can still be celebrated. That Red Dead Online development is winding down may be disappointing, but hopefully not the end of Red Dead Redemption.
Red Dead Online is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.