According to sources close to Rockstar, the wildly successful and overwhelmingly beloved open world old western masterpiece Red Dead Redemption 2 will release later this year on the Nintendo Switch 2, alongside a current-gen upgrade for Xbox Series X|S and PS5.
The launch on Switch 2 is ambitious as RDR2 is such a massive and visually impressive game that requires a tremendous deal of memory and processing power to play with consistent stability and fidelity but follows suit with other major titles of the sort like Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade, getting announced for a future Switch 2 release as well.
The release on Switch 2 is happening around the same time as an update for the current-gen Xbox and PlayStation hardware, that promises to bring improvements to both performance and graphics. It’s been nearly 7 years since the original release of RDR2, and though it remains a prominent showcase of top-tier graphics and gameplay, Rockstar believes that it’s time for some further modernization to keep up with the ever-evolving technical landscape of the gaming industry.
It would appear that the confidence developers are gaining in Nintendo’s upcoming console is much stronger than any in the past. Previous consoles didn’t seem to have the capabilities to run massive open world games with cutting edge graphics and loads of assets, but apparently the new hardware is capable and up to the task.
I’m not certain if that will be the case or not, but with games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade, and now with Take-Two Interactive (Rockstar’s parent company) planning to drop a few other big titles after launch to see how they do, we’ll soon find out if the Switch 2 is as powerful as everyone seems to believe.
When asked about his thoughts on Nintendo’s Switch 2, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said that Take-Two is planning to support the console at launch more than they have done for any previous Nintendo platform.
“We feel really good about it. But it always remains to be seen,” he stated. “We’re offering more on launch support than ever before for a Nintendo platform. We’ve announced four titles for Switch 2. It remains to be seen how it does, but I am a big believer.”
“Historically, Nintendo has done a better and more supportive job with first-party titles. But I think they are aiming to change that.”
“And we have basically risen to the challenge and opportunity, and we’ll see how it goes. We voted with our feet. Nintendo has asked us to be supportive, and we do believe we’re doing that. Now we will see what happens.”
As of now, Take-Two is planning to launch Borderlands 4, NBA 2K, Civilization VII, and WWE 2K all on the Switch 2 this year, so it’ll be cool to see if the new console can keep up with PS5 and XBOX Series X. Many eager fans and developers are optimistic about the possibilities of bringing these games to a wider audience through the utilization of the Switch 2.
Will Nintendo rise to the occasion and present a console that allows for these types of games to run smoothly? Will they be forced to downscale some of the games with higher processing requirements? Do you believe that this will change the gaming industry for the better? Either way, we’ll know when Nintendo’s Switch 2 launches next month!
