Throughout the years, rumours came and went about single-player DLC for Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto 5. That never came to pass thanks to the explosive popularity of Grand Theft Auto Online. False rumours indicated that things might change with Red Dead Redemption 2, but that’s not happening.
Lead online production associate Katie Pica spoke to VG247 and when asked about single-player DLC for the open world title, she replied, “We’re 100% focused on online right now, because like I said, there’s just so much to do, and we’re just hoping to bring everything that a player can love about single-player into the online world, and fleshed out.”
This can be seen in the recent Frontier Pursuits update which allowed players to choose different classes. Each had their own specific activities which could unlock different benefits. There are even weekly Legendary Bounties and Collection Lists to go through. That being said, even with the studio’s focus on online, there’s still a passion for single-player experience.
Online producer Tarek Hamad noted that, “We’ve said it before, but we all love single-player games, and Red Dead Redemption 2’s absolutely massive story and equally massive epilogue are hopefully evidence of that.
“The team’s ambitions for Red Dead Redemption 2 were sky high in every way, and when we are building worlds of that scale, the single-player experience almost always leads the way. Our ambitions for our online games are just as high, and with Red Dead Online we are continuing to build and expand to match the world we created for Red Dead Redemption 2’s story, not just with the roles but other activities, new random events, characters to meet, new ways to engage with the world and further inhabit your character, as well as trying to improve the overall experience.”
Time will tell if it reaches the same level of success, both in terms of player base and revenue, that Grand Theft Auto Online still enjoys. Nevertheless, with 25 million copies of Red Dead Redemption 2 shipped as of August 2019, Red Dead Online is only just getting started. Maybe the long-rumored PC version can help expand things a bit? Stay tuned in the meantime for more details.
