Upon release of the highly anticipated Red Dead Online in 2019, fans were immediately left disappointed, and an ongoing lack of updates has only made matters worse. Following over six years of consistent Grand Theft Auto Online updates, the multiplayer mode of Rockstar's new Western epic felt empty and sparse of activities to do. Fast-forward four years on, and despite critical acclaim for the single-player campaign, the online mode has still struggled to win around fans. Despite this, Red Dead Online's ongoing update problem in 2022 is not the most concerning outcome of the Red Dead Online saga.

Rockstar has become a household name since the turn of the century, with award-winning, critically lauded franchises such as Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto, but only with the release of GTA Online did the company start making a name in the multiplayer world. Frequent updates to the online Los Santos world sealed the company's image as able to run a live-service game and keep the content fresh, but the failure of Red Dead Online has completely contradicted that progress. It is clear that Rockstar have prioritized the continued success of Grand Theft Auto Online over their newer title, and this is a major disappointment considering the lofty ambitions that the company aimed to reach in the build up to the release of Red Dead Online.

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Upon release, Red Dead Online came under immediate scrutiny for continued focus on micro-transactions. This is not something new of course, with GTA Online's Shark Cards ruining its economy (cards the user can pay for with real currency, translating into in-game dollars) used regularly in their other live open-world service. In Grand Theft Auto however, it feels like there is more to spend these dollars on - whether that's on cars, apartments, nightclubs or other businesses. In RDO, it could be suggested the Gold Bars available to purchase are not worth the real-life currency, considering the lack of content. There is an argument to be made that considering the era of RDO's world, there is no real need to have large amounts of currency because there would be little to spend it on. So why has Rockstar chose to continue to push and promote these micro-transactions onto the players in this case?

Red Dead Online Hasn't Fulfilled Its Promise Since Launch

Red Dead Online has not been evolving much over the years.

Combined with the real-life money that certain users have sunk into Red Dead Online, with little reward in return, there are also those players that spent many hours building up their in-game income through the missions and side activities. Despite this, there have been only two major content updates since the release of the game - the Frontier Pursuits update in 2019 (which added three roles for players to carry out to earn small income) and Blood Money in 2021 (allowing players to delve into the criminal underworld in Saint Denis). The lack of items to buy with currency was already problematic, but it's made worse alongside the distinct lack of content to earn said currency with, especially compared to the content-rich Grand Theft Auto Online. This shows that Rockstar has failed to deliver on its most important promise - delivering continued content and consistent fun in RDO.

Should Rockstar have communicated better with the community, both in the build-up to release and after, expectations could have been settled and the more realistic, down-to-earth, hard-working ideal that Red Dead Online strived for could have been reached without letting down fans and critics alike. As it stands, fans simply want more than what's on offer.

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