Did Red Dead Redemption Kill The Western Game?

RDR2.com asks "Is the RDR series so good that it's killed an entire genre for other games?"

[SaveFerris]

It hasn't killed it, but it has made it difficult for any other developer to try and make a similar game. Any attempt to do so will be seen as ripping off Red Dead Redemption, and countless articles and opinion pieces will appear on this forum for weeks on end trashing the developer and game for even trying to copy Rockstar. /s

[blackout]

Couldn't have said it any better. RD is amazing, even for today's gaming. Rock Star have found the Golden Ticket in game development.

[TheCommentator]

It's not like there were a ton of Western games before Red Dead anyways, so one could make a case that R* didn't kill the genre, but defined it. Look at it this way, GTA didn't kill the open world genre, right?

[ServerBOT]

Man lets see what silly question/opinion pieces this site comes up with until the release of RDR2.

[CorndogBurglar]

Its not like Westerns were a genre that anyone else was exploring.

There was Red Dead Revolver that was just okay. Then Gun, which was hot garbage. Then Red Dead Redemption.

Westerns were never in high demand and still aren't. RDR just did it very well.

[Burrito26a]

Gun was great.

[BEASELY]

?? For its time, Gun was a solid game with hilarious gore.

[InMyOpinion]

Gun was a lot of fun imo. There was also the Call of Juarez series.

[NukaCola]

Tin Star on SNES was a lot of fun and so was Oddworld Stranger's Wrath but of course both of those are fantasy in the genre.

Red Dead just makes the Western World fun even when it comes to wrangling up cattle or dueling guns. But the thing is Rockstar always Builds on top of all their games for example Red Dead Redemption really started dynamic mini missions that would pop up on the map, hunting and treasure searching, and some pretty unique gameplay effects with special features like time slow downs that don't feel fake and add to the dramatic impact. A lot of what Red Dead Redemption learn from GTA 4 was improved upon and red dead brought a lot of those features severely enhanced into GTA 5. So naturally everything Rockstar has done over the years will make Rockstar's next Red Dead game even better. I just hope that they don't f@uk up by the online side of things. Red Dead Redemption had some pretty killer online and I don't want what they kind of did with GTA 5 to take away from the main game

[Gamble20]

Gun was very fun

[OB1Biker]

Good question but the comparison with ME is silly. Very few western games vs many many space opera games (sub genre are not relevant)
Edit: of course ME is unique but thats not the point here, i.e. it didnt 'kill' sci fi space games.

[Limbrick]

No. Resident Evil did not kill Zombie games, Gta3 did not kill open world sand box games, and RDR did not kill games about the West. There was no Western genre to kill. However other developers did not attempt to join the success R* had with RDR. Why? I think because it still seems risky at a time when other current popular genres seemed less risky.
Then there is the demand factor. Other than RDR fans is there a demand for Westerns?

Overall Westerns were big in movies in 1940's, 50' and 60's along with a run of popularity on tv in the days of 3 channels in black and white. Maybe someday Western video games will also have a run of popularity.

[cfc83]

Very few have the cash, experience, budget, engine, staff and patience that rockstar do. You're not going to find a publisher who can step into rockstar territory, with a 6 year plan. Many want quicker results, and also step into a space where a game can be released every 1-2 years.

[G0zo]

"Westerns are extremely popular" - not in video games. The setting is not so tempting for european's players, I guess. Not sure how it works for Americans.

[curtis92]

You can't kill a genre if you're pretty much the only one doing something in a genre. And yes, they had massive success with RDR which by default means that any other western game will immediately be compared to it. No way around that. Rockstar did something amazingly well and it's up to other devs (if demand for more western games is even there) to step up and make something that can compete. Personally, my only interest in RDR2 is because of Rockstar. Any other western game, I doubt I'd have any interest in.

[About30Ninjas]

Rockstar hasn't killed Western games they just make it better than anyone else