Well, it's happening folks, Red Dead Redemption is officially coming to PC after almost 15 years as a console exclusive. Taken at face value this is great news — and long overdue, might we add — but as Xbox fans, we can't help but be a little miffed at one thing that's just occurred to us. RDR on PS5 and PC will support much higher frame rates than on Xbox.
Yep, thanks to Microsoft's fantastic backwards compatibility program, we've been able to play Red Dead Redemption on modern Xbox consoles for years now - and up to 4K resolution since Xbox One X arrived. However, the game never got an FPS Boost update, which means the Xbox version remains a 30FPS title. Last year's PS4 release runs at 60FPS on PS5, and now this PC version is here to bring even higher frame rates - hardware permitting. Rockstar, we deserve some of this high frame rate action on Xbox as well!
The question is, how does the team get around this strange situation we're left in? We're assuming that the 360 version didn't jive with Xbox's FPS Boost technique so that seems off the table - especially now that Microsoft doesn't update the program anymore. So, do they just go with a full new port like the PlayStation release last year? We've not seen any evidence of that being a potential move from Rockstar yet, but who knows.
Either way, we think this needs sorting somehow, some way. We reckon the best course of action, unless the 360 version can be updated, would be to drop the newer port on Xbox with a discounted upgrade path for 360 version owners. Then, those who think it's worth upgrading for the extra frames can do so while others can continue to enjoy the existing backwards compatibility title as-is!
Back when Rockstar first announced that PS4 port for Red Dead Redemption last year, we actually praised Microsoft's backwards compatible version as a reason to not pay more money for a fresh release. However, with that PlayStation version since supporting 60FPS on PS5, and this new PC release coming later this month, we're feeling a bit left out in the 30FPS cold over here. Microsoft, Rockstar, how about some 60FPS Red Dead action on Xbox?