Multiple Rockstar fans are starting to object to the popular meme of comparing Red Dead Redemption 2 to newer games, especially open-world games.
Where The Discourse Started
GTA 6 Countdown made a tweet last weekend comparing Red Dead Redemption 2 to the recently released Ghost of Yotei. They put video of both games side by side, showing how Arthur Morgan and Atsu can be seen wading through water.
They also said this:
Ghost of Yotei (2025) vs Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018)
Rockstar Games is still the master of open-world titles.
This seems to have been the last straw for some gamers. We’ll quote wakeupkacho who shared this sentiment around the meme itself:
Red dead is a beautiful game but is also probably the worst thing to ever happen to video game discourse in history
Thank god I play niche ass fighting games I’ll never see someone compare eternal fighters zero or some shit to this lmfao
But some more prominent voices in the community chimed in as well.
SynthPotato Argues It’s OK If Open-World Games Are Different
SynthPotato shared this response to this tweet:
Red Dead Redemption 2 is my favorite game ever, but we need to stop comparing everything to it.
What Rockstar did was extraordinary but it had a $500M budget and 8 years of development.
It’s okay for games to be 70% as detailed if they’re made in half the time, Yotei is great.
When someone responded to SynthPotato with the axiom “Comparison is the thief of joy,” he said this:
Its okay for other open world games to exist and be good.
VideoTechUK Takes It One Step Further
Videotechuk_ didn’t quote GTA 6 Countdown directly, but he was clearly alluding to his tweet. He made this argument:
As a die hard Rockstar fan I’m actually tired of these RDR2 vs x modern day game comparisons now.
Red Dead 2 is undoubtedly one of the greatest, detailed games of all time but people forget to remember it had an infinite budget whereas most games on this market have a budget cap and can only deliver so much.
Video game characters not getting wet in games is literally a non problem.
But Why Not Raise The Bar For Everyone?
We’ll share our own argument for why not every game has to meet the standard set by Red Dead Redemption 2.
There’s a popular meme that some gamers want shorter games with worse graphics. And that they should be made by people who are paid more to work less.
But it’s more than a meme. Entertainment research company MIDiA Research made a report last year that the industry would genuinely benefit from having more small games.
Maybe the biggest AAA companies have the resources to make games as big as Red Dead Redemption 2. But even then, chasing that higher bar might not be sustainable.
We’re sure gamers will complain if they get five games as good as Red Dead Redemption 2 in the span of a year. It’s not like everyone has the time to play through these games anyway.
In any case, Rockstar fans only have to wait a few more months for their next big open-world title that will raise the bar even further.
