Sorry But You Won’t Be Playing Red Dead Redemption 3 On PS5 Or Xbox Series X/S

Summary

• Red Dead Redemption 3 is unlikely on current consoles due to Rockstar focusing on a GTA 6 release for 2025.
• Microsoft and Sony are looking towards the next console generation, hinting at extended console life cycles.
• Fans may have to wait longer for Red Dead Redemption 3, but Rockstar’s new RAGE engine for GTA 6 ensures a next-gen experience.

It’s becoming increasingly unlikely that Red Dead Redemption 3 will be released on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X. While Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2 were extremely well received, there hasn’t been any official word on another entry in the franchise from its developer, Rockstar Games.

Rockstar has been focusing on development for its highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 instead, with a 2025 release date confirmed for the title alongside the game’s first trailer. Previous reports stated that Rockstar moving all available resources onto the juggernaut title, with other titles, remakes, remasters, and current-gen patches being canceled to ensure it hits this deadline.

Microsoft And Sony Are Already Looking Toward A New Console Generation

Both Companies Have Talked About The Future Of Xbox And PlayStation

Rockstar’s portfolio has always consisted of high-quality titles, and up until 2013 the company released games for a variety of series such as Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead, Bully, Manhunt, L.A. Noire, Midnight Club, Max Payne, and even Table Tennis. Since 2013, however, Rockstar has only released Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead titles and players have begun to notice just how much the development times between titles have increased, with GTA 5 released on PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2013, Red Dead Redemption 2 on PS4 and Xbox One in 2018, and the upcoming GTA 6 on PS5 and Xbox Series S/X in 2025.

With this in mind, it’s extremely unlikely that Red Dead Redemption 3 will be released this decade, let alone on the current generation of consoles, especially as Microsoft and Sony have already begun preparations for the next generation. Sony Senior Vice President Naomi Matsuoka confirmed that the PlayStation 5 enters the latter half of its life cycle this year in a recent interview with Bloomberg, which would indicate a 6-year cycle for the PlayStation 6, with a PlayStation 6 potentially coming in late 2026. Xbox President Sarah Bond also discussed Microsoft’s next-gen console as part of the official Xbox podcast, calling it “the largest technical leap that you will have ever seen in a hardware generation.”

Rockstar’s development of Grand Theft Auto 6 does suggest that whenever Red Dead Redemption 3 is released, it will fully utilize the next-gen hardware to make for an even more immersive experience. Red Dead Redemption 2‘s open world was already praised for its impressive graphics and wealth of immersive activities upon its launch on the last generation’s hardware, and Grand Theft Auto 6 is using an even more powerful version of the company’s in-house RAGE engine to further improve upon this with its Florida-inspired Leonida setting.

The Previous Three Console Generations Had New Red Dead Titles

The Current Generation Only Had A Re-Release Of Red Dead Redemption

With no sign of Red Dead Redemption 3 in sight, and a new console generation looming, this could be the first time players haven’t had a new Red Dead title in three console generations. The PS2 and original Xbox had the first game in the franchise, 2004’s Red Dead Revolver, the PS3 and Xbox 360 saw the series go open-world with 2010’s Red Dead Redemption, and its prequel, Red Dead Redemption 2 released on PS4 and Xbox One in 2018.

Rockstar previously stated that the
events of
Red Dead Revolver

weren’t canon to those of
Red Dead Redemption
, but Red Harrow’s antics in that game can be considered folktales and can be heard around campfires and found in books in later games. Red Harrow is still playable in
Red Dead Online
, however.

The current generation of consoles only had a re-release of Red Dead Redemption on PlayStation 4 – and PlayStation 5 via backward compatibility – and the Nintendo Switch. This rerelease seemed to be a direct port of the 2010 title and its Undead Nightmare expansion, albeit without the multiplayer modes found in the original game. The PlayStation version also saw the enhanced 4K texture packs previously seen on Xbox consoles via its backward compatibility upgrade patch.

With the popularity of the Red Dead Redemption games, which have often been heralded as having some of Rockstar’s best storytelling to date, this will undoubtedly disappoint fans of the Western franchise. Although Red Dead Redemption has depicted the end of the Wild West, there are still several places the franchise could go in the future with Red Dead Redemption 3, from continuing the story of Jack Marston after the epilogue of Red Dead Redemption, telling a spin-off story with characters such as Sadie Adler in Mexico, to delving even further into the past with another prequel like Red Dead Redemption 2.

Sources: Bloomberg, Xbox/YouTube