There’s now solid proof that Red Dead Redemption 2 is coming to PC and the release will be exclusive to the recently announced Rockstar Games Launcher.
Last week, eagle eyes spotted that Rockstar Games had been stealthily trying to submit the revisionist western-themed sequel as “Bonaire” to the Australian Ratings Board. The classification request was denied not once but twice. Last night, though, the request was approved. You can see for yourself that Red Dead Redemption 2 has finally been classified by the Australian Ratings Board under the “computer games” — PC — category.
Having been rated MA 15+ just like the console versions, this definite news about Red Dead Redemption 2 comes mere days after the publisher announced its own Rockstar Games Launcher for PC. The publisher even threw in a free copy of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as an added incentive to anyone who downloads and installs the client. The timing makes it fairly easy to connect the dots.
There’s no doubt that Rockstar Games is gearing up for an announcement and when it does, Red Dead Redemption 2 will be revealed as an exclusive addition to Rockstar Games Launcher. It wouldn’t make sense to bring out your personal games client and not take advantage of something like Red Dead Redemption 2.
Hence, a Steam release is out of the question, at least for the time being. Remember that Bethesda Softworks tried something similar when it released Fallout 76 exclusively for its own Bethesda Launcher on PC. It didn’t work out. Following dipping sales and growing negative perception, Fallout 76 landed on Steam the very next year. The situation, however, is different for Rockstar Games. Red Dead Redemption 2 won’t be fearing bad sales because the sequel already has a proven record on consoles.
The only possibility of seeing a Steam release is if Rockstar Games goes for a timed exclusive format out of the goodness of its heart. In such a case, Red Dead Redemption 2 will remain exclusive to Rockstar Games Launcher for either six months or a year. Steam, as well as other digital marketplaces on PC, will get their turn afterwards.
As for the release itself, there’s speculation that Red Dead Redemption 2 PC will release this December to take advantage of the shopping season. If not, the release will be pushed into early 2020. There’s also a good chance that Red Dead Redemption 2 will release for Google Stadia as well since the timing is perfect. In either case, expect the Red Dead Redemption 2 PC exclusive announcement to happen very soon. This is one game that will have escaped being Epic Games Store exclusive, only to be an exclusive to another platform on PC.
