Players who prefer Red Dead Online to the likes of GTA Online have had a pretty rough time of things since the cowboy sandbox launched off the back of Red Dead Redemption 2’s single player success.
Sadly, to many players, the former has always felt as though it only exists to play second fiddle to the latter, a sentiment which only increased following a Newswire post from Rockstar last week, which outlined plans for the future of both games.
In response to this post, some Red Dead players have decided to organise a community event befitting of how they feel about the game’s current trajectory.
We Are Gathered Here Today to Mourn the “Death” of a Semi-Beloved Online Sandbox
Take a look in Twitter’s trending tab today and there’s a chance you’ll see #RedDeadFuneral floating in the sidebar, with this being the rallying cry employed by players who’ve decided to log into it today and host an impromptu funeral to mourn its “death”.
In practice, this has involved characters dressing up in muted formal attire and gathering at cemeteries in locations like Blackwater and Valentine to down some beers and contemplate the state of the title, with player @RealDirtyTyler summing up the movement by saying: “Today is the day the community is paying it's respects to a game that many of us love, and wish had gotten more love from Rockstar.”
This supposed lack of love is embodied, in the view of some, by the aforementioned Newswire post, which outlines that Rockstar will be “making some changes” to how it supports Read Dead Online going forwards, opting to “build upon existing modes and add new Telegram Missions,” rather than “delivering major themed content updates.”
The reason cited is a desire to reroute development resources to the next Grand Theft Auto game, possibly the long-awaited GTA 6, with “the need to exceed players’ expectations and for this next entry to be the best it can possibly be” being emphasised by Rockstar.
In the same post, the publisher also announced plans to continue supporting the older GTA Online as heavily as ever, with a big new update offering expansions to the game’s criminal career paths, plus some other community-requested improvements.
With this in mind, the day of reflection being engaged in by Red Dead Online’s community doesn’t seem so far-fetched.
So, don your stetson, head to your local boneyard, pour one out, and make sure to follow us for more GTA and Red Dead Online updates as new content arrives.