Rockstar Games would be better off avoiding an online component to wasted Red Dead Online's potential - an issue that has been exacerbated by several launch-period promises - and the developer would probably prefer to avoid constant backlash due to lack of . Rockstar will surely continue giving most of the post-launch attention to the next iteration of GTA Online, and a half-baked multiplayer feature for RDR3 wouldn't go down well with the series' community.
Red Dead Online launched a month after Red Dead Redemption 2 in late 2018. Though initially bare, several major updates showed the true potential of the multiplayer world if Rockstar continued to it like the company still does for GTA Online. In the three and a half years since RDO's release, that potential hasn't been realized as content updates have come to a halt. Rockstar developers had previously teased grand ideas for the multiplayer, from specialized wagons to GTA-like heists in Red Dead Online, but those are nowhere to be found in the current version of the game. Players did not let their displeasure go unheard, starting the "#SaveRedDeadOnline" campaign and routinely flooding the comment sections of Rockstar's social media s with calls for of the game. The developer has made no announcements regarding content, however, with RDO in its current state languishing far behind its GTA 5 sibling.
Although still very much a titan of the gaming industry, Rockstar's reputation has taken a hit over the last few years. GTA Online continues to make mass amounts of revenue for the studio and publisher, with updates fuelled primarily by microtransaction purchases, while the much-maligned GTA Trilogy remasters suffered a major fan backlash at launch. With that taken into consideration, when the developer returns to the world of Red Dead Redemption for the next sequel, it should avoid lofty promises for multiplayer by simply scrapping it altogether. Taking out multiplayer could also pave the way for single-player DLC, with no single-player expansions having come to either GTA 5 or Red Dead Redemption 2, despite add-ons for Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto 4 receiving major praise at release, such as Undead Nightmare and The Lost and the Damned.
Rockstar Abandoning Red Dead Online Shows RDR3 Shouldn't Have Multiplayer
Without saying it, Rockstar has shown that it no longer cares about RDO. Although Red Dead Redemption 2 broke sales records, it still pales in comparison to GTA 5, one of the most profitable pieces of media of all time. Thanks to players purchasing in-game money with actual money, GTA Online has brought in billions of dollars in revenue. To encourage continued spending, Rockstar keeps players engaged with a steady flow of content updates. Simply put, GTA Online is too successful for Red Dead Online to also thrive. There's no use in getting players hopes up when it will inevitably disappoint again.
Since the success of Red Dead Redemption's Undead Nightmare DLC, there's been great demand for more post-launch content for Rockstar's single-player offerings. Single-player add-ons for GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 never materialized, but things could change with the absence of Red Dead Online. Some were hoping for a surprise release of a Red Dead Redemption remaster, while others speculated that an alien-focused story was on the horizon considering the UFO Easter egg in Red Dead Redemption 2. Currently, all signs point to Rockstar having no real interest in making an engaging live service within the world of Red Dead Redemption, so resources should instead be allocated to making the next great expansion on par with Undead Nightmare and even The Ballad of Gay Tony from GTA 4.
Rockstar will likely give Red Dead Online another try in Red Dead Redemption 3. With the avalanche of recent bad press, it's reasonable to assume the developer will be committed to make things right. Due to the lack of communication, however, it's also reasonable to assume that the developer is less invested in RDR2's multiplayer than it is GTA 5's, making the prospect of an online mode in another Red Dead far from a sure thing.