Red Dead Redemption and GTA4 remasters reportedly scrapped after GTA Trilogy debacle

Rockstar have reportedly shelved plans for remasters of Red Dead Redemption and GTAIV after the poor reception of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition. The trilogy, which released late last year, was a technical disaster and heavily criticised despite high sales.

Yesterday, Tez2 – a regular and reliable source of information on GTA games – tweeted that a “reliable source” had told them the remasters were planned a few years ago, but that Rockstar “chose not to proceed” and that “the poor reception of the Trlogy DE might be a reason”.

As per a reliable source with clear accuracy on Rockstar plans, remasters of GTA IV & RDR1 were on the table a few years ago, but Rockstar chose not to proceed with the projects in mind.

The poor reception of the Trilogy DE might be a reason behind that decision.#GTAIV #RDR1

— Tez2 (@TezFunz2) July 4, 2022

Kotaku have since reported that they’ve spoken to their own Rockstar sources, and confirmed that Rockstar had “shelved all remakes” and were focusing on development of GTA6. A Red Dead Redemption remake was rumoured last year at the same time as numerous rumours about the GTA: Trilogy remake.

When The Definitive Edition finally launched, it was a complete mess. Cars and people would fall through the floor, fog and rain wouldn’t render properly, human faces looked like laminated potatoes, the OCR process run on low-res textures had mangled old puns, and and the internet delighted in highlighting the problems. Shortly after release, Rockstar pulled it from sale – not because of any of the bugs, but because of unintentionally bundled files including unlicensed music and uncompiled code. Rockstar eventually put it back on sale, started selling the originals again, patched some of the issues, and offered a free game by way of apology.

It’s no wonder that Rockstar would want to take a break from remasters for a while, although it’s worth noting that Take-Two said in an investor call that sales of the Definitive Edition outstripped their expectations. Kotaku’s sources reportedly say that remasters of Red Dead Redemption and GTAIV could still happen after GTA6.