‘Red Dead Redemption’ publisher defends re-release’s controversial price

Take-Two Interactive has said that the price of the upcoming Red Dead Redemption port for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch is “commercially accurate”.

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Announced on August 7, Red Dead Redemption arrives on these platforms with its Undead Nightmare expansion next week. Digital and physical versions of the game will cost $44.99 (£39.99) which has been a point of discussion for fans.

“That’s just what we believe is the commercially accurate price for it,” said Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick in a response to IGN‘s question in its most recent earnings call.

Hannah Sage, executive vice president of finance, also added that this re-release of Red Dead Redemption includes Undead Nightmare. Zelnick justified that the apocalyptic expansion “was a great standalone game in its own right when it was originally released, so we feel like it’s a great bundle for the first time, and certainly a great value for consumers.”

Red Dead Redemption will be playable on the PlayStation 5 through this new version thanks to backwards compatibility. However, the Xbox 360 version of the game is available to purchase for $29.99 (£24.99) and is backwards compatible on Xbox One, Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X.

That is the rub for some Red Dead Redemption fans, even though the expansion is bundled in with the game. There was no word on a PC version either – those are decided by developers, said Zelnick.

As Take-Two Interactive remastered three Grand Theft Auto games last year, IGN wanted to know what criteria must be fulfilled for a remaster or remake as opposed to a new version.

“It depends on the vision that the creative teams have for a title, and in the absence of having a powerful vision, for something that we would do with a title, we might bring it in its original form,” answered the CEO.

“We’ve done that, and in certain instances we might remaster or remake, so it really depends on the title and how the label feels about it, the platform, and what we think the opportunity is for consumers,” he concluded.

In other gaming news, the Commerce Commission of New Zealand found that Microsoft‘s proposed acquisition of Activision would not threaten competition in its games industry, leaving two countries left for the corporation to convince.

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