Earlier this week, Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games announced a Switch and PS4 port of Red Dead Redemption, and gamers have been none too happy with the price. For fans of the original releases, that’s perhaps understandable. Considering this is a pretty old game and it really isn’t offering anything new in terms of features.
In a recent report from IGN, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick defends the price when asked about it, saying he thinks that $50 for Red Dead Redemption is a “commercially accurate” price for the ported game. He further refers to the cost as a “great value” for customers, highlighting the inclusion of the game’s Undead Nightmare DLC.
Many among the gaming community view this price as a way to milk more money out of customers. And it’s easy to see why some are coming to that conclusion. If you own the game and its DLC for Xbox, you can simply play it on the Xbox Series X|S or Xbox One for free thanks to backwards compatibility. And if you don’t own them, you can pick them both up for $40. The Red Redemption base game is $29.99 while the Undead Nightmare pack is $9.99. Coming out to $10 less than the ports for PS4 and Nintendo Switch. When you factor in these details, it makes sense why some would be offput by the $50 price tag.
The Red Redemption price on Switch and PS4 makes sense for some
If you’re coming into this game having never played it during the original release years ago, the $50 might make sense, or at least you may be ok with it. That is if you don’t own an Xbox console. The thing is, there’s going to be no other way for PS4/PS5 or Nintendo Switch owners to play the ported game.
Having said that, this isn’t a first-party title for either console manufacturer. So there is no doubt that it will eventually go on sale. And when it does, that’s when you pick it up. Because you’ll ultimately grab it for a cheaper price and still be able to enjoy it. If you’ve gone this long without playing it, you might as well wait a little longer for a price drop. When that happens is anyone’s guess. But it won’t be $50 forever.