- According to a new rumor, Red Dead Redemption 2 is penciled in as an upcoming Epic Games Store freebie.
- The game will reportedly hit the Games Store this Friday.
- For a multitude of reasons, there’s no way there’s any substance to the rumor.
Is Red Dead Redemption 2 the next big name Epic Store freebie? Highly unlikely.
Since the Epic Games Store’s early summer blowout that saw GTA V, Civilization VI, and Borderlands: The Handsome Collection gifted to users for free in quick succession, the offering has reverted to a steady stream of respectable indies peppered with the occasional aging AAA (with the exception of launch freebie A Total War Saga: Troy).
Now, the latest rumor doing the rounds on Reddit suggests that Epic is once again dipping into its deep coffers to lure in new users by handing out none other than Rockstar Games’ open-world cowpoke epic Red Dead Redemption 2 for free.
The rumor surfaced initially on the Maylasian Lowyat forum, armed with a screenshot allegedly extracted from what appears to be a Chinese-language version of the Games Store. Text sitting atop familiar promotional artwork for RDR2 reportedly translates to ‘Free to claim next Friday!’
While the prospect of picking up Red Dead Redemption 2 free of its customary $60 price tag has me, and I imagine countless others, quivering in anticipation, there’s no way there’s any substance to the rumor.
For starters, Epic releases its latest haul of freebies on Thursdays, not Fridays, and has already confirmed this week’s offering as Railway Empire and Where The Water Tastes Like Wine. Discounting some form of last-minute surprise drop, Epic already has a full slate for this week.
There’s also the crucial fact that Red Dead Redemption 2 made its big jump to PC less than a year ago. It took GTA V seven years to go free in any capacity.
Unless Epic is willing to fork out a disgustingly large amount of money, it’s hard to see Rockstar agreeing; the game continues to sell well with no signs of losing its firm berth among the Steam top 30 global best sellers. The sums required to get Rockstar to budge would be too high even for Epic, famously liberal with its cash as we regularly see through timed exclusivity deals.
We did see RDR2 on Xbox Game Pass from May to just a few days ago, but any financial compensation sent Rockstar’s way in that deal would have been padded out by monthly subscription fees to the service aided by Microsoft’s vastly larger money pot compared to Epic Games.
With this in mind, this rumor reeks of a whole load of fabricated nonsense. Stranger things have happened, but I wouldn’t bet on this one becoming a reality.
