A hot potato: It's easy to imagine that news of a Red Dead Redemption port would bring plenty of excitement, but not when it's only coming to the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, and especially not when Rockstar is charging $50 for it. But Strauss Zelnick, CEO of parent company Take-Two, thinks that's a fair amount, insisting that $50 for a port of 13-year-old game onto last-gen consoles is "commercially accurate."
It was reported earlier this week that Red Dead Redemption and its standalone zombie expansion pack, Undead Nightmare, will be available in a single package for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch as of August 17.
Red Dead Redemption, the follow-up to Red Dead Revolver, gained critical acclaim upon release. It was originally only available on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, though it can also be played on the Xbox One and Xbox Series through backward compatibility, where it can be purchased for $30. There's no official version on the PC, but users can play it using emulators. RDR had also been accessible on PC via the PlayStation Plus streaming service. Sadly, the game was removed from Sony's catalog in 2022 after six years of availability.
The price of the upcoming $50 Red Dead Redemption port has been a source of contention for many gamers, especially considering its age, lack of multiplayer, no PC release, and the $30 it costs on the Xbox Store.
When IGN asked Zelnick about the game's price, the CEO said, "That's just what we believe is the commercially accurate price for it." Take-Two's EVP of Finance, Hannah Sage, noted that a big reason for the high price is the inclusion of the Undead Nightmare add-on, which was extremely popular at the time. She called the bundle "certainly great value for consumers." Again, many people might not agree with that statement – you can buy all the DLC, including Undead Nightmare, for the Xbox Store version for $13, bringing the total to $43. It also offers multiplayer and several enhancements.
IGN also asked about the possibility of a PC port, but Zelnick said game release announcements were left up to developers.