Red Dead Redemption may actually be coming to PC after 14 years

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Newly datamined evidence comes straight from the horse's mouth.

John Marston wields a revolver.
(Image credit: Rockstar)

If you'd told me back in 2010 that Red Dead Redemption would take 14 years to release on PC, I would have been happy: the world still has at least 14 years left in the tank! But then I probably would have grown annoyed: 14 years to play a PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 game on PC? It's simply unfair.

New evidence suggests a Red Dead Redemption PC port is imminent. Famed GTA dataminer Tez2 posted new code from the Rockstar launcher site today, and it doesn't leave much room for interpretation. Among the code is the following quote: "Journey across the sprawling expanses of the American West and Mexico in Red Dead Redemption, and its zombie-horror companion, Undead Nightmare, now playable on PC."

If true, it's a canny move on Rockstar's part: releasing a classic game on the second largest gaming platform in the world (after mobile) shows tremendous business acumen. 

Red Dead Redemption received PS4 and Nintendo Switch ports last year, which were very welcome, though some were disappointed by the lack of graphical enhancements. Even the PS4 version remained locked at 30fps, for example, though a 60fps option was later made available for players on PS5. Others were annoyed by the $50 price tag, which the CEO of Rockstar's parent company, Straus Zelnick, called a "commercially accurate price". 

Rockstar has long been shy of PC. PC versions of both Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 released a year after their console equivalents, and arguably the most anticipated videogame of all time, Grand Theft Auto 6, will also skip PC when it launches on consoles next year. Why? The topic has never been directly addressed by Rockstar.

We reached out to Rockstar, who declined to comment.

Shaun Prescott
Shaun Prescott
Australian Editor

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.