Rockstar may delay GTA Online and Red Dead Online updates to focus on GTA Trilogy fixes

GTA Trilogy on Nintendo Switch
(Image credit: Rockstar)

The regularly scheduled updates for GTA Online and Red Dead Online may be slightly delayed as Rockstar buckles down to improve the performance of the GTA Trilogy.

Reliable Rockstar insider Tez2 suggested as much in a recent tweet. "Rockstar is allocating more resources and devs to assist with GTA Trilogy post-launch development," they claimed, adding that this internal shift has a "fair chance" of pushing back GTA Online and/or Red Dead Online updates.

New GTA Online patch notes and Red Dead Online patch notes have been released at the same time each week since time immemorial (or at least as far back as we can remember), including during the initial development period of the GTA Trilogy. However, it's entirely possible that Rockstar's efforts to improve the messy and poorly received trilogy will soak up more resources and affect its other projects, including its online game modes. 

That said, it's worth noting that today's Red Dead Online patch notes have arrived right on time, and we can safely assume that GTA Online will also be updated this Thursday. Even if the schedules for these games are affected, as Tez2 claims, it's likely that Rockstar already had a few updates ready to go, so we may not see the effects of this purported production lag for a few weeks, assuming it becomes visible at all.

We've reached out to Rockstar for more information on its expectations for GTA Online and Red Dead Online and will update our reporting if we hear back. 

Rockstar apologized for the state of the GTA Trilogy last week. The publisher committed to a series of updates which will bring the three games to "the level of quality that they deserve." 

Austin Wood

Austin freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree, and he's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize that his position as a senior writer is just a cover up for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a focus on news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.