Rockstar’s Open World odyssey, 2018’s Red Dead Redemption 2 which is also universally praised as one of the greatest games ever made, will reportedly get a next-gen update sometimes in this year along with a Switch 2 release. The next-gen update will allow the game to take full advantage of the PS5 and the Xbox Series X|S which will result in the game looking and running even better on those consoles.
The news comes from reliable leaker Nate the Hate who has said in a Youtube video that Red Dead Redemption 2 could finally get a next-gen graphical update along with a release on the new Nintendo Switch 2 after the console finally arrives.
Of course, there were also rumors previously regarding a next-gen update for Red Dead Redemption 2 and a Switch 2 port of the game and the recent comments from Nate has given further validity to those claims.
The next-gen update could be the usual higher-res textures and selected use of Ray Tracing such as Ray Traced Shadows and Reflections in Red Dead 2, which is already one of the greatest looking games of all time even without using any RT based tech. It’d be interesting to see how Rockstar decides to implement RT in the game as using Ray Traced Global Illumination could interfere with several artistic directions behind the lighting of the game as seen in lots of titles before.
And as for the Switch release of Red Dead 2, comments from Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick have previously suggested that multiple titles from the publisher will be coming to the new console when it launches, which definitely keep the possibility open for Red Dead Redemption 2 being one of them:
“We’re launching four titles with Nintendo Switch 2, and that’s I think a bigger array of releases than we’ve ever offered before with a new Nintendo platform,” he stated. “Historically, being a third-party in the Nintendo business has been a bit challenging. I think Nintendo has been very forthcoming in addressing that. And we’re stepping up too, because we have great optimism for the platform. In terms of what we would bring to any platform, we address it on a case-by-case basis, we obviously want to be where the consumers are. But we would not necessarily bring every title to every platform. There are also great catalog opportunities as well.”
However, all eyes are now on Rockstar’s upcoming GTA 6 which is set to be the biggest entertainment event of all time when it releases May 26, 2026.
