Rockstar Games has finally announced Red Dead Redemption 2, the sequel to the acclaimed Western epic that a lot of people I know hold up as Rockstar’s best game. Of course, the internet is thrilled; interest in this game is so high that Rockstar tweeting out a simple logo was enough to send every videogame website and personality from here to Blackwater into a tizzy. And why not? Another massive, handcrafted open world in a powerfully lifelike space that offers a deep single-player experience? No matter what you think of Rockstar’s chops, there’s something compelling about that.
Compelling, that is, if that's what we actually get. In the three years since Rockstar last released a game, something in the background has slowly shifted—something that the gaming media hasn't really talked about. It’s a change that might fundamentally alter what Rockstar is, and what their games look like going forward. If you’re an adherent to Rockstar’s old ways, you might not like it.
So, what happened? Four words: Grand Theft Auto Online.
