Fans of the Red Dead Redemption franchise have been facing a little heartache as of late, as the latest game in the series, the long-awaited Red Dead Redemption 2, has seen its fair share of delays.The game was initially set to release in September of last year, before Rockstar Games bumped it back to a potential spring 2018 release window. Last week, it confirmed that the date had been pushed back again, this time to October 26 of this year – over a full year past its initial date.
CEO Strauss Zelnick noted that the main reason for the latest delay was so Rockstar could make sure it had the proper amount of polish before its release. However, there won’t be any more delays, as the team is “confident” that the October release date will stick.
“The entire focus of this organisation is on delivering the highest quality entertainment experiences of any kind,” Zelnick said. “More often than not, we feel proud that we’re able to do that. All of our labels are focused on releasing a title when they reach that apex of effort and perfection. And in this instance, Rockstar Games felt more polish was required, and naturally we are in favour of that decision. The date of October 26 is set, and I am confident that will be the release date. We are incredibly excited about it.”
That extra development time will pay off in the long run, especially when Red Dead goes up against heavy hitters like the Call of Duty franchise, as well as the next Battlefield game. “We release titles all over the calendar. Heading into the holiday season can be a particularly powerful time and I’d observe that while there are some competitive releases, it’s a lot more of an open field today then it was 10 years ago,” said Zelnick. “There’s plenty of opportunity to go around So we’re really excited about [Red Dead Redemption 2] and the timing related to the launch.”