Red Dead Redemption 2 Shows What's Possible When Games Aren't Rushed | Twinfinite

Ed M writes: Red Dead Redemption 2 is a culmination of a generation's worth of work, and the ceiling right now is game of the generation.

[nucky64]

not rushing is good, yes..........but 8 years? i really don't want all games to take that route.

[MasterCornholio]

Depends on how the game turns out. While I don’t believe that every game should take 8 years to make I don’t see an issue with a developer releasing a game changing masterpiece in that time frame.

[Mr_Commander]

8 years is fine,when you get 60h just for Story, counting nothing more. people also forgets that this is just SP, we gonna get and MP,
60h just for story, how many games there are which are so long? at least, game sounds like unrealistic dream for gamers. we will see next week how it will translate into real product.

[milohighclub]

I'd rather all games took that long, wouldn't get sick if franchises.

[MasterCornholio]

@Zabatsu

It might change how open world games are done if it's that good.

[Skull521]

This is why Rockstar and Blizzard are unparalleled in game development. Super successful games allow you to take your time and make the next super successful game.

[bouzebbal]

don't forget the 100hour weeks...

[InMyOpinion]

I'd rather have 8 years between really good games than uninspired yearly iterations of games like Assassin's Creed or COD. AC: Origins was great, because they gave the team 2 years instead of 1 to produce it. A year later we get Odyssey which is basically glorified DLC with dreadfully designed microtransactions.

[josh-eh]

I'd rather all my favorite game studios take 8 years to make their games and make them the best they can be (uncharted, horizon, last of us, god of war) rather than 3-4. I think 5 years is a good sweet spot for developers.. but overall... take your god damn time and give us something really special :)

[RedDevils]

Yeah, like how square-enix took their time with ff, what a waste of time.

[joab777]

I don’t mind waiting 8 years for a game of this quality. But very few can do what Rockstar does. Very few are in the financial situation that they are.

I’d love it if Assasin’s Credd could take 3 or 4 yrs b/w games and just release DLC for the huge open worlds they craft. I wish Bungie had 5 years for Destiny 3. I wish many games had as long as it took. But everyone has shareholders to answer to as well.

[jaymacx]

I agree on the not rushing part. There is another reason Rockstar games come out so well... Money.. They are allotted larger budgets than most publishers are willing to pay. Problems happen when games are rushed and not given proper funding or the mismanagement of funds. TakeTwo is willing to give large budgets to Rockstar because they know their games will have long legs and sell at elite levels.

[lio_convoy]

Awww, muffin.

[nucky64]

those of you seemingly fine with an 8 year cycle understand how long that is? - uncharted 2 would have just come out in '15 and UC3 would not be due until 2023. RE2 would have just released and the classic RE4 won't be out until 2034! 8 years is a long time to wait is all i'm saying and i don't think you realize that.

[DJStotty]

When did GTA V release? just saying...

[Matpan]

Sure... coming from a person who could not be bothered to re write his thoughts in an alternate way on two different websites... ;P

[TheOtherMoon]

Double-edged sword - communities get upset when they feel like developers are pumping out the same story-based game year after year. Is there a finite number?

[Goldenarmz]

Did you even really notice? You only know now that it took 8 years, but during those 8 years you probably didnt know or care that they were working on a RdR2 Game.

[Osito]

In before people talk about how some random Rockstar employees decided to work 100 hour weeks so they must be abusive to their entire company.

[2pacalypsenow]

Who cares, as long as the game is good.

That's all I care about.

[Soybetaboy]

Same here

[Stalmaster]

Wow have naive and selfish are you? People don't "decide" to work 100 hour weeks just for the heck of it. It takes institutionalised pressure from the top to make people feel guilty if they're not working insane hours. The top brass should discourage this, not allow this to breed.

[JackBNimble]

I'm curious out of the 8 years of development, how many 100 hour weeks were actually worked. Probably Vert few... I find it funny how this site has gone full sjw over this.

[fiveby9]

@JackBNimble I agree with you. All these white knights talking about "institutionalized pressure" as if they know. And then others equating to slavery. Really? Slavery? That's quite ignorant to equate long hours to "slavery". I would be interested to hear how many and how often these 100 hour weeks occurred too. If this was a systemic problem, I suspect people would have left the company sooner and this would have been publicized before too. I work in dev and at times in the dev cycle it's crazy. Some long hours happen. It doesn't last forever, and I could always leave if I didn't like the environment. Perhaps all these white knights will boycott buying the game in solidarity with the overworked underpaid staff. But I doubt it.

[DJStotty]

I had to rebuild my company's server and worked 14 hour days solid for 2 weeks, it was nothing. Pay packet was double so i didnt mind

[paintedgamer1984]

Yes, been waiting to play this since it leaked. My Spidey PS4 Pro is ready

[alb1899]

Is not just about time......money is a big factor.

[2pacalypsenow]

Pretty sure for Rockstar, that's not an issue.

[alb1899]

Yes but we are talking about others developers doing the same as RockStar did

[Jinger]

Well when your last game is GTAV which has netted $6 billion... more than any game, movie or show has ever made... and I'm sure that number is still going up considering GTAV is still somehow always at the top of the sales charts.

[Baza]

Time is money

[Donnie81]

This game is gonna be 🔥

[Artemidorus]

I'm glad Rockstar do not cater to millennial gamers.

They would have them working on yearly titles milking it to death.

[xenz]

Not sure you know what å millennial are. You are probably one yourself.

[Artemidorus]

Oh I know them but maybe it's time to focus on the Generation Z of gamers, the pure cancer of wanting to pay for things to win or yearly games paying over and over again.

[mixelon]

Weirdest thing to blame on millennials ever.

80+% of the posters here are likely millennials.

[Artemidorus]

You need to understand them.

[Yetter]

...and have half a billion dollars to spend on production

[BABI-PANGPANG]

Not rushing but working times of 100 hours a week? Uhuh..

[King_Noctis]

Maybe go back and re read the articles about that? Also since the game is near its release, usually companies crunch in order to get the game out in good shape. Not saying that it is good or anything, but it is what it is.

[blacktiger]

True but then anyone could've said what looks like if you take forever,

[Stanjara]

Oh, they are really good calculated. I mean, it's enormous effort to make open world game that looks and feels like a single player one. Huge, but they make a game at the end of a console generation where user base is at maximum, and they optimize the engine that can be ported to the next gen. That makes them covered on two generations. Also, 8 years is a long wait for the players that are willing to buy it no meter what. Good tactic in my opinion but still, those crunch working hours feels like even 8 years isn't enough.One thing I like is that multiplayer part of the game is separated with all te microtransactions.

[DarXyde]

And yet people would complain that games aren't coming out fast enough. Not every developer can be this attentive or dump this kind of passion into a project. Rockstar has enormous coffers from GTA V alone and releasing it on current gen hardware along with plenty of microtransactions for multiplayer. They could afford to take this long to produce one game and keep everyone staffed.

It's quite unrealistic to look at an outlier like Rockstar and feel other developers should follow suit. Poor journalism. No insight into the realities of the process, it seems.

[Einhander1971]

Most games nowadays have been in development for years. You just don’t hear about it until it comes out. Mario 64 started it’s life originally for SNES, so concept to reality shows it takes years.

[Inzo]

umm... Horizon, U4, GOW already showed whats possible.

[mixelon]

In some ways, not others.

[TheEroica]

Some companies prefer to push something out every year and watch it degrade over time....

Some companies prefer to nurture their property and lovingly expand its greatness over time....

The good things in life are those things you wait for... Kudos to Rockstar for following their own compass in an industry full of money grabs....

[bangoskank]

Was on the fence about buying this day one but am pre-ordering due only to the team's hard work and dedication. I'm sure the game is going to be exceptional as well.

[sampsonon]

"I reviewed Forza Horizon 4 last month and thought that it looked next-gen. At that point, it was probably the best looking game I’d played this generation. "

Then you need to play more games don't you.

this looks better and it's 4 yrs old. https://youtu.be/LSfof7S9eC...

I won't even talk about Horizon Zero Dawn.

[DrStronk]

Some of mankind's greatest achivements were obtained trough slavery, such as the pyramids. Let's see if Red Dead 2 falls under that very same category.

[rivaldoo777]

R* , CDPR , ND, ATLUS
Just take your time you guys are the best!!!

[DafunkyRebel]

I know this is crazy to say but I’d really want Activision to try making an 8 year perfect Call of Duty game