Finally! Red Dead Redemption has been released to the ever growing list of Microsoft’s backwards compatible games, allowing owners of the Xbox 360 version of the game to play it on the Xbox One, allowing them to revisit the western classic we all know and love. This was a brilliant step forward for Rockstar Games, who’ve been relatively quiet as of late, especially with E3 coming and going with nery a mention or appearance and with the rumours that were spreading throughout the internet of a new Red Dead Redemption, this is still something to be somewhat happy about (if you’re an Xbox One user with Red Dead Redemption on Xbox 360 anyway).
July always seems to be an incredibly quiet month compared to June or August for games, with only two major console games being released so far: Carmageddon: Max Damage and Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII which have hardly been incredible or hyped up. June provided quite a brilliant lineup with the likes of Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens and highly rated follow up from Limbo, Inside which is understandably hard to follow but July tends to always be a quiet year and the way things are currently going, I doubt we’ll see a huge lineup of games to follow.
One Red Dead Redemption mission, where you take control of a herd of cows
The addition of Red Dead Redemption to the backwards compatibility catalogue is a great move for many reasons for all companies involved. Rockstar could use this to potentially sell more copies of the game (albeit unlikely, however it could work in their favour), the more hardcore and dedicated fans of the series could see this as another reason to move from the previous generation to the next by getting an Xbox One over a PS4 who have their own half-arsed backwards compatibility in the form of PlayStation Now which is a subscription based service emulating previously released PS3 games… yeah, nothing compared to Microsoft’s addition.
Releasing such a big game could also give Rockstar that added push they clearly need to carry on and have more games on the list, or potentially see the overwhelming success of Red Dead Redemption on three consoles (PS3, Xbox 360 and Xbox One) and make the highly sought after sequel to the brilliant release. It also gives the potential for more Xbox One use over the summer period while we wait for more games to release for the consoles – not only does this promote more Xbox One use, this could also further the interest in Xbox One S consoles if players decide this is the step they intend to take instead of playing an older console.
This doesn’t mean that Sony will be out of the loop here, with games like The Warriors and Bully on sale in the PlayStation Network Store, it just means that if Red Dead Redemption is to come out on the platform, users will more than likely have to use the paid, subscription based service to play it – something that many users take into account when comparing the two consoles as Backwards Compatibility is a huge addition for Microsoft.
See also: Share Play Vs. Backwards Compatibility: Which Is The Best Post Console Release Feature?
It goes without saying that Red Dead Redemption is a brilliant game that received well deserved scores upon release from critics, and a title I see with a huge future ahead of it now that players can get their hands back on it. I just hope that Rockstar sees the hype for the release and takes it down another road to make a sequel or even a new game in the series.
So, what do you think? Is this July release for such a huge backwards compatibility game a great addition? Or do you think this year could be a bit more promising for game releases as opposed to recent years? Let us know down below in the comments. Don’t forget to check out our Twitter page for our most recent giveaway and to get in contact with us!
