Rockstar Games has staunchly refused to make remasters of two of its best titles, Grand Theft Auto 4 and Red Dead Redemption, despite their success and popularity. Remastered versions of these games with better graphics and quality of life improvements have a great deal of potential if done right, so it's a mystery why they haven't come yet. No official statement has been made regarding them, and so far there's no evidence of their existence.
In GTA 4, protagonist Niko Bellic moves to Liberty City in search of a new life and the man who betrayed his unit in the Yugoslavian War. In the process, he rises through the ranks of various criminal organizations and works for the United Liberty Paper, a front for the International Affairs Agency. Much of what happened to Niko before GTA 4 during the war is unknown, including the exact details of his unit's betrayal, but he does manage to achieve his goal of finding the traitor Darko Bravic, whose fate is ultimately left up to the player. In Red Dead Redemption, former outlaw John Marston searches for the former members of his gang in order to turn them in to the American government, who has kidnapped his wife and child in order to secure his cooperation. He goes on to capture or kill most of his former allies before being reunited with his family and ultimately betrayed by Edgar Ross and Archer Fordham.
There are a few possible explanations for why remasters of GTA 4 and Red Dead Redemption have not yet come. According to a tweet by TezFunz2, a leak claims that GTA 4 and RDR remasters were planned a few years ago, but were ultimately shelved. However, this isn't to say that they can never happen. Rockstar Games may change its mind and give fans these remasters eventually, so they shouldn't be discounted right off the bat. What they would look like and how faithful they would be to the originals is tough to say, but hopefully they would be done better than the disastrous release of GTA: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition.
GTA 4 & RDR Remasters May Have Been Doomed By GTA: TDE's Failure
GTA: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition was a remaster of three past GTA games; GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas. Although they were intended to be an improvement and bring the games more in line with modern titles, the result was ultimately disappointing. Odd changes, poor graphics, and a multitude of glitches and bugs are just a few of the reasons the GTA Trilogy remasters went so wrong, in addition to the terrible rain effect that practically eliminated visibility. In addition, the original versions were pulled from digital stores, leaving players who had purchased them unable to play the old ones that they had paid for.
Due to the backlash surrounding the GTA Trilogy remaster's release, Rockstar Games may have lost faith in remasters of its past games, and shelved any planned GTA 4 and Red Dead Redemption remasters as a result. The company might not want to risk another poor release or any accompanying PR issues and loss of revenue. However, the trilogy's failure shouldn't eliminate any future remasters. Rockstar should take them as an example of what not to do and improve its practices in order to make better remasters instead of learning the wrong lesson from GTA Trilogy's failure, if indeed this is the case. It's also possible that Rockstar Games had started work on GTA 4 or RDR remasters and made similar changes to them as the ones that were in Trilogy prior to its release, and are altering them to avoid its mistakes.
GTA 4 & RDR Remasters May Not Be Coming Because Of GTA 6
Another possibility is that GTA 6 is preventing Rockstar Games from remastering GTA 4 and Red Dead Redemption. It was confirmed in February that Rockstar was working on the long-anticipated sequel, and rumors regarding almost every aspect of it have been abound ever since. Some details such as a Latina playable character and a return to Vice City have been coming to light recently, but very little is known about the game so far. A big topic among the rumors is GTA 6's release date, though how likely any of them are is questionable. At the moment, it would appear to be sometime between early 2023 and 2024, so it may be quite a while before fans are able to get their hands on it.
It's entirely possible that the sole reason no GTA 4 and Red Dead Redemption remasters have come is because Rockstar is fully focused on GTA 6. Red Dead Online has suffered some neglect due to this project, so it stands to reason that other projects would also fall by the wayside. As the sequel to the popular GTA 5, it has a lot to live up to, so it's understandable that it would require a great deal of time and effort. If this is the case, then remasters could still happen after GTA 6's release, though they would be far in the future. There could also be other planned projects like RDR3 coming after GTA 6's release date, which would move back any remasters of past games even further.
Rockstar's Changing Corporate Culture Could Be The Reason For No GTA 4 & RDR Remasters
Another possible reason for the lack of GTA 4 and Red Dead Redemption remasters is Rockstar's changing corporate culture. The company has faced backlash in recent times due to the heavy amount of crunch in its game development, as well as a toxic "frat boy" culture laden with harassment and mandatory 14-hour workdays. Rockstar has been undergoing some changes to combat this, such as a new time system allowing for more time off, along with some contracted employees being converted to full-time. The new culture has also apparently led to changes in GTA 6, as it purportedly has a much more respectful tone towards women and marginalized groups such as the LGBT community, which the GTA series has a reputation of portraying in an offensive manner.
It's possible that Rockstar's changes for GTA 6 have caused delays due to the internal restructuring involved, which in turn led to delays or shelving of other projects such as remasters of GTA 4 and Red Dead Redemption. A shakeup of the company and its culture on this magnitude could most certainly affect development time of major titles, and reworking parts of them to reflect the changes even more so. It's also possible that these changes have made Rockstar reluctant to remaster past games given their sensitive content, or that the vast reworks necessary to remove it are another factor in their delays. If remasters of Grand Theft Auto 4 and Red Dead Redemption did ever come, they may be very different than they used to be, hopefully in a good way.
Source: TezFunz2/Twitter