Key Highlights:
- Red Dead Redemption 2 nears its eight anniversary.
- The game could have a few surprise announcements in tow, for Switch 2 and PS5 players.
- The Switch 2 version might be a lot less feature packed, in terms of performance.
Its hard to believe that it has been over seven years since Red Dead Redemption 2 was first released for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles. The game has since garnered a massive fan following, with the title being released across multiple platforms, including the PC in recent years.
However, there have been a few shortcomings on these recent ports, including the lack of a 60 FPS patch, and a Nintendo Switch 2 port, which is expected to be remedied quite soon.
The Switch 2 Could Get a Port of Red Dead Redemption 2
The Red Dead Redemption 2 listing on the Steam storefront has brought in the eagle eyed gaze of certain gamers, many of whom believe that there might be ‘something big’ set to happen very soon.
This is substantiated by the recent Steam Store package updates for RDR2 and RDR2: Ultimate Edition, which coincided with the start of the ongoing Steam Autumn sale. While the update does seem rather inconsequential at first glance, it does hide some rather interesting possibilities.
After all, the launch anniversary for Red Dead Redemption 2 is less than three weeks away, and Rockstar Games could be cooking up something very special for its fans. It has been quite some time since Red Dead Redemption 2 recieved any kind of update for consoles.
This anniversary could bring with it the much anticipated 60 FPS patch, and/or native current gen ports for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
The Switch 2 seems to be the next stage in the evolution for Red Dead Redemption, and a Switch 2 port for the sequel could be most certainly on the cards. The first Red Dead Redemption was released for the Switch, and was quite a success, running fantastically well too.
As such, it makes sense for Rockstar Games to cash in on the success of Nintendo’s newer, stronger console and release a port of the game there.
Can the Switch 2 Run Red Dead Redemption 2?
In a word, yes. Nintendo’s successor to the original Nintendo Switch (released back in March, 2017) features vastly improved hardware and controls across the board, all while maintaining near perfect backwards compatibility with existing Switch 1 titles.
This should make it quite possible to run and maintain a stable frame rate for Red Dead Redemption 2 on the Switch 2 – assuming that Rockstar Games gets around to porting the title to this system.
Compared to existing PC hardware, the Switch 2 can perform slightly better than a Steam Deck (thanks to its usage of a custom version of DLSS), which makes it quite capable for the task.
Also Read: Why Microsoft’s Next-Gen Xbox May Miss the Mark
Red Dead Redemption 2 runs fantastically well on the Deck, averaging around 40 frames per second with reasonable visual settings in mind. Trumping the Deck should not prove to be a difficult task for Nintendo’s console, although there still remain a few technical challenges.
For starters, the game will have to have two separate modes, one for handheld play and the other for docked play (which should be more power hungry).
Furthermore, don’t go expecting more than 30 frames per second on the Switch 2 for this particular game. While RDR2 is quite optimized, you really can’t make miracles with a toaster, where power constraints are a very real problem.
However, this should still prove to be an excellent way to play the game for tons of newcomers, and is an exciting development regardless.
