Red Dead Redemption hits PC, and fans are loving it, which sets the stage for a Grand Theft Auto 4 remaster.
In case you missed it, Red Dead Redemption is finally out on PC, a triumph for mouse and keyboard players across the globe. The PC port of the 2010 title comes a year after it was released on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch with PlayStation 5-exclusive enhancements. Could this mean something for Grand Theft Auto too?
Handled by Double Eleven, the Red Dead Redemption PC port is being received much better compared to Rockstar's previous endeavors, particularly Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, which suffered from performance issues and poor optimization.
To date, the damage done by the initial launch has made a lot of fans weary of any remasters and re-releases that Rockstar releases. Slowly, the award-winning studio is starting to regain the trust of fans, which would make it the perfect time to break out a remaster of Grand Theft Auto 4.
Sandwiched between Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which turned 20 over the weekend and Grand Theft Auto 5, the second-best-selling video game of all time, Niko Bellic's misadventures in Liberty City hasn't received much love despite being universally praised.
The game remains "stuck" on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 with a largely unoptimized PC port that requires players to jump through plenty of hoops for it to be remotely enjoyable. Red Dead Redemption's success on modern platforms proves this no longer has to be the case.
After reportedly canceling its original plans to remaster and port RDR and GTA 4 to modern platforms following the negative reviews the GTA Remastered Trilogy received, Rockstar has every reason to circle back, especially with the hype surrounding Grand Theft Auto at an all-time high.
2025 is a big year for the Grand Theft Auto franchise. Grand Theft Auto 6 is coming out in Fall 2025 and Rockstar seems to be doing everything it can to send Grand Theft Auto 5 out on a high note. Grand Theft Auto Online just welcomed its most popular update yet, and it's showing no signs of slowing down ahead of its expected final expansion.
Announcing a GTA 4 remaster ahead of GTA 6's release won't take away from the upcoming sequel's hype. If anything, it will add to it, ensuring that GTA is at the top of mainstream consciousness for the foreseeable future.
With a GTA 4 remaster on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, and Nintendo Switch, GTA 6, a PC port of the GTA 4 Remaster, and the eventual PC release of GTA 6 — you can even throw in the potential release of GTA 4 and GTA 5 on Nintendo's next console — Rockstar will have guaranteed itself a sure-fire way to generate GTA-related revenue for much of the remaining decade.
Of course, this is all just speculation, and we can't say for sure what Rockstar is planning, but we can certainly hope. Take-Two Interactive has a quarterly earnings call scheduled for next week.
