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Will ‘Red Dead Online’ release this week or will it be delayed?

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Updated 11/25/18 to reflect that the image found was from an intro sequence, not a trailer.

Red Dead Redemption 2 continues its reign as one of the best selling games of the year, as well as one of the best reviewed. Fans have been waiting impatiently for the release of the online multiplayer mode, called Red Dead Online, which is supposed to be opening in beta mode in November. However, the lack of announcement of a date for the beta release means that some are skeptical whether the multiplayer mode will actually be made available this month.

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The multiplayer mode was announced as a large free expansion that would be made available to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players, and would be playable either alone or as part of a party. A trailer for the mode was expected to drop to give players a first look at the action, based on an image that was found by snooping around Rockstar’s website which appeared to be a still from an intro sequence according to rockstarintel.com. Other tidbits found in the game’s companion app were that Red Dead Online will feature anniversary modes, which are probably similar to Grand Theft Auto Online’s player-versus-player challenges, and that private sessions and seamless PvE will be possible.

Although developers Rockstar Games haven’t given a beta release date yet, they also haven’t officially announced a delay to the multiplayer mode. So it isn’t yet clear whether the mode will be arriving in the next week or not. It could be that Rockstar hasn’t shared an announcement because of the Thanksgiving holiday and Black Friday sales, which have been dominating the news and the attention of many technology fans and gamers.

Another theory is that because the game has sold so well, being the second best-selling game of the year so far despite its late release date, the sheer number of players wanting to join the beta has required Rockstar to iron out server issues ahead of time before allowing players in.

More specific details about Red Dead Online were uncovered by the site RockstarIntel and suggest that the first mission will be jailbreak-themed and that once you complete an online mission, you’ll get an award image which will appear on your social club.

Georgina Torbet
Georgina is the Digital Trends space writer, covering human space exploration, planetary science, and cosmology. She…
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