In an increasingly common practice, one of the two current-gen consoles are getting a favorable content deal for an upcoming highly anticipated AAA title. In this case it's the PS4 and Red Dead Redemption 2. The deal is pretty run of the mill, similar to the same one they cut in the case of Destiny. RDR2 players on PS4 will have access to future DLC earlier than players on Xbox.
This kind of deal has cropped up more and more frequently in recent years. One console gets some content or entire games earlier than the other, or some DLC remains exclusive to a given platform. While this may provide the players of the beneficiary console with an advantage, overall such practices hurt the industry as a whole, as well as the consumers.
While console exclusives are a necessary part of the industry to some extent, slicing up games and distributing those bits and pieces to different platforms prevents most players who cannot afford all platforms to experience the full experience. This is the whole "retailer exclusive pre-order bonus" that has plagued the industry for years made even worse.
Hopefully in the case of Red Dead Redemption 2, this is just a situation where PS4 players have access to content earlier, not exclusively. Worst case scenario is that Red Dead Online will have a similar DLC scheme as GTA Online, meaning frequent free updates, but those will only be present on PS4 and Xbox players will only have access to Red Dead Online as it is upon launch.
However, luckily that is extremely unlikely, as such a deal would guarantee a major drop in sales and revenue. The better option is more likely, so PS4 players will be playing DLC a few weeks ahead of Xbox players for as long as this deal lasts.
In any case, the wording of the official Playstation blog post indicates that this is just a timed-exclusive deal, allowing us to breathe easy. More details will be revealed soon about the deal, so in the meantime its no use getting all worked up.
We are pleased to announce that PS4 players get first access to earn select online content in the vast open world of Red Dead Redemption 2. Check back on PlayStation.Blog for more details soon and for all of the latest information on Red Dead Redemption 2.
Sony also announced that the original Red Dead Redemption is now coming to the company's PC streaming service, Playstation Now. For a paid subscription, users are able to stream Playstation games to PCs, allowing them to play games which are otherwise PS4 exclusive. This is the first time RDR is available on PC in any official capacity — but it's still far from being a true port.
Which platform will you play RDR2 on?
