It seems like Christmas is coming early this year. Steam announced it's new hardware lineup releasing early 2026, and Rockstar has confirmed that Red Dead Redemption will receive a new upgrade for current-gen consoles.
Last Thursday, November 6th Rockstar Games shook the world. They announced to everyone's displeasure that Grand Theft Auto VI would be delayed to November 19th, 2026. Some fans were extremely disappointed; others had seen it coming.
In their X post, they said, "Hi everyone, Grand Theft Auto VI will now release on Thursday, November 19, 2026. We are sorry for adding additional time to what we realize has been a long wait, but these extra months will allow us to finish the game with the level of polish you have come to expect and deserve.” (via X)
In a follow-up, X post Rockstar Games continued, “We want to thank you again for your patience and support. While the wait is a little longer, we are incredibly excited for players to experience the sprawling state of Leonida and a return to modern day Vice City. (via X)
With the delay of GTA6, some wonder about the rumored Red Dead Redemption 2 Remaster for current-gen consoles, which is said to optimize for 60FPS. Those rumors were somewhat right. They were wrong about which Red Dead Redemption game would be getting a remaster.
It was announced on Thursday, November 13th, that Red Dead Redemption would be “coming to NETFLIX, IOS, ANDROID, PS5, XBOX SERIES, and NINTENDO SWITCH 2,” and that it would be “AVAILABLE DECEMBER 2.” All quotes from this section and below belong to Rockstar Games.
“Updates and Enhancements for Current Consoles
Players on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S can look forward to a smooth 60 frames per second experience, enhanced image quality, HDR support, and resolutions up to 4K. On Nintendo Switch 2, we’ve taken full advantage of this new hardware with support for DLSS, HDR, mouse controls, and the same fluid 60 frames per second gameplay at high resolution.”
“Free Upgrades on PS5, Xbox Series, and Switch 2
Current owners on PS4, Nintendo Switch, or the digital backward compatible version on Xbox One will be able to upgrade digitally for free. Anyone who owns the PS4 version can utilize previous PS4 save data to pick up where they left off, and Switch 2 players can continue with their previous save data from the previous Nintendo Switch console.”
What is nice to see is that Rockstar has learned from their past mistakes. Back when they announced the Grand Theft Auto V: Enhanced Edition only players who owned GTAV on PC could upgrade for free. Now it would appear as if anyone owns a copy from the last generation will not only be able to get the upgrade for free, but also carry over save progression.
Fear not, because RDR has skipped a generation (the current one) it makes sense for Rockstar to put it on the (current) market, then release RDR2 Remastered after. They may do it this way to be able to eventually package the two Remastered versions together. Whether or not the delay plays into the timing is unknown. It would be nice to have both games remastered to play while waiting
In the end all three games will be great to play at their best. If you already own RDR and RDR2 there's no reason not to play them back-to-back while waiting for GTA6. Hopefully both remasters will come sooner than later. Red Dead Redemption: Remastered and it's companion Undead Nightmares will release on Dec. 2, 2025.