Red Dead Redemption II will indeed have a multiplayer component. Called Red Dead Online, it will launch in beta form in November, a few weeks after the game is out. This is a similar rollout to GTA Online, GTA V’s multiplayer component.
As it is being deemed a beta, “turbulence” is expected during this time. Everyone who owns RDR II will get a chance to try it out when the beta is launched. No additional steps needed.
Speaking to IGN, Imran Sawar, Director of Design at Rockstar North, explained that Rockstar is treating Red Dead Online as separate products. Hence, the separate names for what would have been a multiplayer mode. “We see them essentially as separate products that will grow and evolve independently of each other, ” he said.
Red Dead Online will follow the same model of GTA Online where everyone has access to the same content rather than Red Dead Redemption’s multiplayer model where paid DLCs ended up fracturing the player base. This also mean that there might be the same grind you would expect for GTA Online.
Rockstar is taking the best content ‘packs’ from GTA Online as inspirations for new content coming to Red Dead Online. Josh Needleman, Senior Producer at Rockstar San Diego said:
“We’ve tried to take the best elements and best content packs from Grand Theft Auto Online and use them for templates for what we are making here. We feel Grand Theft Auto Online really only found its feet creatively with Heists.
“That pack, along with After Hours, The Doomsday Heist, Gun Running and a few others represent the best of Grand Theft Auto Online, and provided the template for what we wanted to use here, (not in terms of content, obviously, but how they combined narrative, gameplay, modes and other content into a cohesive thematic whole) alongside all of the elements we liked from the old Red Dead Redemption multiplayer.”
GTA Online and Red Dead Online will both receive updates for now. Right now, the direction of content for Red Dead Online is about “role-playing and morality” but that may change depending on community feedback.
Red Dead Redemption II will be on stores October 26th for the PS4 and Xbox One.