Is Red Dead Online unwanted, dead or alive?

There’s little doubt that Red Dead Redemption 2 was one of the top games of 2018.

Heck, it might even be one of the greatest games of all time.

But that doesn’t excuse one glaring flaw, problem, or maybe even selling point, depending on your perspective. And that is Red Dead Online, the multiplayer, internet-based service that places individuals into the open world of Red Dead Redemption 2 – sans narrative and player-versus-environment gameplay.

A pretty much player-versus-player only experience, Red Dead Online, like its forebear Grand Theft Auto Online, seems geared towards various minigame modes of one kind or another and pushing its many (and varied) online monetization options.

Red Dead to follow path of GTA Online?

More than a couple of months deep into the experience, many people are starting to wonder: Is this it? After all, no hardcore Rockstar fan can ignore the impact that GTA Online had on Grand Theft Auto V’s downloadable content.

That is, there wasn’t any single-player, narrative-based content for GTA V. When you compare this to its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto IV, this is a tragedy… and it looks like Red Dead Redemption 2 will follow the same path with its online mode.

The only major issue with that is that the online mode isn’t really that compelling right now and, this long after release, that’s an issue for Rockstar.

Where does Rockstar’s motivation lie?

All of which raises the question: Can Rockstar do anything to save Red Dead Online at this point? Well, if the amount of money that Rockstar has made from its Grand Theft Online series is any indication, they might not be that interested. That’s because Grand Theft Auto Online has turned that nearly six-year-old game into a cash-printing machine – none of which includes single-player content.

Yet, here, we have to draw a distinction between the two games. GTA Online is a pretty compelling online game, but Red Dead Online just isn’t there…yet. That doesn’t mean things won’t change, and a lot of Red Dead fans are banking on just that.

The only problem is: Will people care when they do make those changes?

Can Read Ded Online match RDR2 single-player experience?

By itself, Red Dead Redemption 2 is a compelling game, filled with more than enough content for most players. One challenge games like this face is remaining addictive tens of hours deep and this is where the online mode faces its biggest problem.

GTA V’s problems, few though they are, can largely be excused by its age. Red Dead Redemption 2 doesn’t have this grace and its online mode is not going to get away with things like wonky controls and lame combat in the bargain.

GTA V offers penthouses, cars, guns, clothes, etc. to collect and buy while, due mainly to narrative constraints, Red Dead Online can only give players so much loot to collect. Thankfully, Red Dead Online does have time on its side – and it isn’t like people are going to suddenly decide that the single-player game is not one of the best of all time.

All of which means that Red Dead Online isn’t totally unwanted at this point, it is just kind of unnecessary.