Rockstar Games: Here’s Why Red Dead Redemption 2 Has Been Delayed

Yesterday, we broke the news that Rockstar Games' Red Dead Redemption 2 wouldn't be making its fall 2017 release date, instead set to arrive sometime in early 2018. A lot of fans were disappointed that the game would be taking its sweet time coming out, but it turns out there's a pretty good reason as to why it was given a little more time.

During an earnings call today, Rockstar executive Strauss Zelnick explained, "The purpose of the delay for Red Dead Redemption 2 is to make sure we deliver the most extraordinary game we're capable of providing."

But there's more to it than that. "We have not run into particular issues," he continued. "We are building a new game from the ground up for the first time for new-generation consoles. And the pressure that we put on ourselves to deliver excellence and to delight consumers is extraordinary.

"We want to make sure that the appropriate time is taken to do the very best job we can and I that's what consumers expect of Rockstar games and that's what Rockstar games typically delivers. So we support emphatically the label's decision and we are utterly confident that it will prove in time to be wise first and foremost creatively and artistically, economically as well."

That said, Take-Two still has a great deal of confidence in the game. In fact, Zelnick considered that an "extraordinary statement" in terms of the confidence levels from the company.

The screenshots provided by the company yesterday, which can be found here, show a much greater level of detail than expected, so it certainly looks like the game will be worth it when it finally arrives. Besides, a delay isn't the end of the world, as we've got plenty of games that we'll be partaking in over the holiday season. And we always have the original Red Dead Redemption to turn to, with its hours' worth of gameplay available through Xbox One backward compatibility and the PlayStation Now streaming service on PS4 and PC.

Red Dead Redemption 2 will release next year for Xbox One and PlayStation 4.