Rockstar Games Reportedly Developing Red Dead Redemption 3 Alongside GTA 6

You might be closer to Red Dead Redemption 3 than you think, or it's already cooking in Rockstar's famous development pot. Most fans are still looking forward to GTA 6, but new leaks, job postings, and cryptic comments from developers suggest that Rockstar has already started quietly planning its next trip to the wild frontier—or maybe even further.

RDR3 has not been officially announced yet. There is writing on the wall, though, if you look close enough. Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two Interactive, has called Red Dead a "permanent franchise" and stated that the series will continue if a good sequel is developed. It's a no-brainer, given how hugely popular Red Dead Redemption 2 was.

Rockstar is known for taking a long time to develop games, but they ensure they are perfect. They usually start working on their next game before the current one is even released. That means that even though GTA 6 is set to come out in 2026, the studio may already have a small group of people working on RDR3 in the background.

A leak that was spread around the industry said that RDR3 is still in its early stages of development and is aiming for a launch in 2030. That may seem like a very long time away, but it's actually pretty typical for Rockstar to release games 12 years apart. Red Dead Redemption 2 came out in 2018, so that long of a time between games wouldn't be out of the ordinary.

The most interesting fact? A Rockstar developer's LinkedIn page, which has since been deleted, stated that they worked on RDR3 and a project called "Vehicle AI." As you might expect, that led to a lot of speculation. Are Rockstar just talking about horses and stagecoaches when they say "vehicles"? Or are they talking about real cars?

That seemingly small choice of words could be the most important clue we have yet about where the game takes place. As the rumors spread, fans and insiders have come up with four possible paths Rockstar could take:

The Dutch and Arthur Prequel

A safe bet that dates back to the beginning of the Van der Linde gang, showing Dutch as an idealist and Arthur Morgan as a young man on the rise. Some fans argue that this doesn't move the series forward, despite aligning well with existing storylines.

The Follow-Up to Jack Marston

This would pick up after RDR1 and follow John Marston's son, Jack, in the 1910s and 1920s, when the world was rapidly becoming more modern. With cars, factories, and a dying cowboy culture, this could show how the game has naturally changed over time.

New Faces and a New Map

Some people think that Rockstar might make the setting bigger than just the American frontier. They might add more of Mexico or the Pacific Northwest, or they might even combine old maps into one huge world that goes from Texas to California.

The New Take on It 

The most daring and exciting idea is that Rockstar could go back to the time of Prohibition. Think about bootlegging in the 1920s, early cars, veterans of World War I, and fedoras replacing cowboy hats. Rob Wiethoff, who voices John Marston, hinted that the team has talked about going beyond the typical Wild West.

A new version of Red Dead Redemption? Think about it: instead of dusters and revolvers, there would be trench coats, speakeasies, and Tommy guns. You won't hear anything about RDR3 until a long time after GTA 6 comes out in 2026. Rockstar moves slowly and carefully, and each game is often worked on for almost ten years before it's released. Therefore, a release date of 2030 seems likely, if not optimistic.

Still, everything suggests that Rockstar has big plans for the franchise. Slowly taking shape, Red Dead Redemption 3 will either be a classic western or a roaring 20s retelling. When it does arrive, it will likely be one of the most anticipated games of the decade.