THE GTA ONLINE EFFECT

What RDR 2’s multiplayer can learn from the criminal phenomenon

Three years ago, few could have predicted what a cash-guzzling, stratospheric success GTA Online would become. After Rockstar North delivered the greatest single-player open world of all time, most folk would have been happy with a multiplayer mode that let them have the odd bit of chaotic, meaningless fun. Yet such was Rockstar’s dedication to continually updating GTA Online with regular new features, the gloriously destructive, life-swallowing PSN hit became an unstoppable juggernaut, still played by millions in 2016.

Rockstar has already promised Red Dead Redemption 2’s “atmospheric world will provide the foundation for a brand new online multiplayer experience,” and it seems all but certain that said mode will be greatly shaped by GTA Online. While the upcoming western is unlikely to let you hire private security firms, buy million-dollar yachts or perform Cunning Stunts on floating tubular tracks, it could well let posses of online outlaws take part in daring, multilayered bank robberies, à la GTA Online’s heists. Don’t be surprised if an element of empire-building is involved, too. Perhaps your cowboy will be able to buy, then build up an evergrowing ranch?

Regardless of the specific features, expect Rockstar and Take Two to make RDR 2’s online component their major focus once the singleplayer campaign is in the wild. GTA Online has made the studio and its publisher an incredible amount of money – so much so, it’s arguably the reason GTA V’s single-player DLC never surfaced. From a business standpoint, why wouldn’t the latest Red Dead retread those criminal, monstrously successful footsteps?