A Red Dead Online Petition Is Going Around, But Is RDO Really Worth Saving?

Red Dead Online always felt like it was destined to be a success. It was coming off the back of the absolutely phenomenal Red Dead Redemption 2, a game that was both a critical and commercial success, as well as Rockstar's years of experience in the online market with one of the most profitable and enjoyable multiplayer games, GTA Online. There was really no reason why Red Dead Online should fail, especially as Rockstar had proven itself to be a master of both single-player story-driven content and multiplayer sandbox fun.

Unfortunately, Red Dead Online died a fairly swift death, lasting just three years before Rockstar pulled support and left what little remained of it for fans to try and enjoy. That's not to say that Red Dead Online was all bad. In fact, there are a lot of great aspects of the ill-fated online experience that fans are still enjoying to this day. However, there are seemingly no intentions for Rockstar to return to RDO any time soon, leaving fans in the dark. Fortunately, much like a 19th-century cowboy, Red Dead Online's fans aren't going down quietly.

Fans Are Rallying To Save Red Dead Online

They've Started A Petition To Save The Game

Over 2,000 people have signed aRed Dead Online petition via the website Change.org in an attempt to save the game from being completely abandoned and ultimately switched off. The petition, created by user Missrissax Tiktok, aims to get Rockstar to return to regularly updating the game after it decided to stop updates all the way back in 2022. It calls for the "resumption of weekly updates" among a plethora of other features that would, naturally, improve the game and see it return to its former glory before its player base dipped significantly. The petition's description reads:

Red Dead Online has been an essential entertainment source for millions [...] Unfortunately, the game has seen no significant updates nor new content in the last three years, leaving its dedicated fanbase feeling overlooked and dissatisfied. The community yearns for the resumption of weekly updates, enhancing player engagement with fresh content, increasing the diversity and complexity of in-game challenges, and strengthening the game's overall user experience.

The Red Dead Online community is certainly passionate, with dozens of comments from fans in the petition stating just how much they love the game. Even RDR2's voice actors expressed sympathy when the game was shut down, with many wondering what its legacy would leave behind and the lessons Rockstar would learn from it. It is inspiring to see a dedicated community rally around its beloved game, but it's worth noting that websites like Change.org aren't particularly effective, especially when the low number of signatures that the RDO petition has amassed.

This isn't the first time fans tried to save RDO. Previously, fans have tried to save the game via impassioned Twitter campaigns that went somewhat viral but proved to be ineffective in changing Rockstar's mind.

For Rockstar to seriously consider reviving Red Dead Online, it would need hundreds of thousands, if not millions of players to voice their desire and willingness to pay more money. The expense of developing and maintaining a massively multiplayer game like Red Dead Online is gargantuan, and not particularly worth Rockstar's time if its player base is dwindling. However, while the Change.org petition may not be effective, that doesn't mean that RDO isn't worth saving, especially as its foundations could lead to a better experience.

Why RDO Is Still Worth Saving

It Still Has A Dedicated Player Base

A Red Dead Online character with their face hidden by a bandana using the fanning technique to rapidly fire a revolver.

Red Dead Online is a great game, despite all of its many flaws. While there are plenty of missed opportunities in RDO, for the most part, its sandbox open world and Wild West fantasy hold up. Rockstar managed to produce a number of updates across its three years post-release, several of which added thoroughly enjoyable roles for fans to unlock and experience. These roles were the backbone of the online experience, and while Rockstar often mishandled them, the potential that they offered was amazing.

Additionally, Red Dead Online's player count is still fairly high. Beating the likes of more recent online titles like Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, RDO still enjoys a fairly healthy player base on PC, with Steam Charts showing the average daily peak player count at well over 1,000 players. This is obviously not including the numbers on PlayStation, Xbox, or other PC platforms, which aren't made available to the public. It's fair to assume that there are likely several thousand people still actively playing Red Dead Online.

A character portrait of Arthur Morgan with gameplay from Red Dead Redemption behind him.

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While that number may pale in comparison to GTA Online's ridiculous player counts, it is nevertheless impressive. Maintaining an active community among a sea of other online titles is incredibly tough and often the reason why other similar multiplayer games have failed and been shut down. Rockstar could increase its player base even further were it to implement a few more changes and updates, many of which the community has been calling out for. It's also a tough sell to newer players when they're conscious that the game they're buying has no more updates planned for it.

What RDO Needs To Improve (& Make Fans Happy)

Better Monetization & Improved Job Roles

A group of outlaws on horses in Red Dead Online

As outlined in the petition, Red Dead Online needs major and weekly updates to improve the overall experience and entice new fans to check it out. One of the game's biggest faults was that its updates, while exciting in theory, rarely delivered. For example, one of the final updates for RDO, Blood Money, was a disappointment. It added heists and robbery missions, something fans had been demanding since the start, but these missions weren't particularly enjoyable and were extremely limited, making them a rather underwhelming distraction.

Similarly, the roles added throughout RDO's lifetime are fun but feel unbalanced and are too hard to acquire. They usually required the game's premium currency to be unlocked, but Rockstar heavily nerfed the ability to earn it in-game, resulting in fans having to fork out real money to enjoy any of the game's content. That was made harder to stomach when Rockstar added a price tag to the base experience, something that GTA Online doesn't have. All of this culminates in an experience that is too unfriendly to new players and punishes long-term fans, which resulted in the game's demise.

Sadie Adler from Red Dead Redemption 2 with a vampire and some imagery

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However, as much as RDO needs regular updates, improvements to the game's economy, a relaxing of the reliance on premium currency, vast additions to missions and general content, and so much more, it's unlikely to get them. Beyond Rockstar having already confirmed there won't be any more updates, the development of GTA 6, alongside the huge undertaking of maintaining and updating GTA Online, means that the developer is likely stretched thin. Attempting to keep Red Dead Online alive on top of all of that is too much, so fans likely shouldn't count on it returning any time soon, if ever.

Source: Change.org, Steam Charts