Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has stated that he believes that backwards compatibility in consoles, while a benefit to consumers, it might not be considered a must-have.
Speaking with IGN before Take-Two’s earnings report, Zelnick said that he’d “be surprised if platforms didn’t offer that with an upgrade that is sort of mid-cycle, however I’m not certain it’s a must-have.”
The statement comes on the heels of the recent announcement that Red Dead Redemption would be getting a release on PS4 and Nintendo Switch. The new release of the game won’t include any changes made to its performance or visuals, and will instead just be the same game packaged with its Undead Nightmares DLC.
Interestingly, despite the new upcoming release, the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S remain the definitive platforms to play Red Dead Redemption thanks to the backwards compatibility and upscaling efforts by Microsoft.
Developer Rockstar Games has since come under criticism for the decision to release a game that is over a decade old at a $50 price tag. In response, Zelnick has stated that the price for Red Dead Redemption on PS4 and Nintendo Switch is “commercially accurate”, especially taking into account the fact that the release includes the DLC.
