Red Dead Redemption 2 Switch Port Listing Has Fans Stressing

Update 09/27/2023 4:00 p.m. ET: The Brazil Ratings Board has removed the Nintendo Switch from its list of consoles for Red Dead Redemption 2, suggesting that it was mistakenly added. Original article continues below.

A Brazilian rating board listing suggests Red Dead Redemption 2 is coming to Nintendo Switch, five years after the original game launched for Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

A new listing for Red Dead Redemption 2 on the Brazilian Ministério da Justiça website (their Ministry of Justice and Public Security), which was first spotted by Twitter user Necro Felipe, now includes the Nintendo handheld as one of the consoles it’s playable on.

The news comes as a surprise to fans given the lukewarm reception the original game received back in August, with many saying it was a barebones port with performance issues that was missing content. Chief among the complaints was its lack of multiplayer, graphical downgrade, and its struggle to run at 60 frames per second. These shortcomings were further accentuated by the fact that Rockstar Games’ port of the 13-year-old game had a full $50 price tag for the Switch. Given the Switch’s recent struggle to run NetherRealm’s Mortal Kombat 1, it’s understandable that fans are feeling a bit nervous about how poorly RDR2, which is bigger and longer than the original game, might play on the Switch.

Kotaku reached out to Rockstar Games for comment.

Should the listing be true, chances are Rockstar Games could officially announce the Red Dead Redemption 2 port by the end of October to coincide with its fifth anniversary (the game released on October 26, 2018). Video game companies tend to mark these kinds of occasions with some sort of big announcements involving merch and new game info, so it’s not completely outside of the realm of possibility here.

Read More: Take-Two CEO: $50 For Red Dead Redemption On Switch, PS4 Is ‘Great Value’
Buy Red Dead Redemption 2: Amazon | Best Buy | GameStop

But Rockstar Games has not officially announced RDR2’s release on the Switch, just yet, though the official Brazilian MSRB rating board listings have scooped game announcements in the past. In fact, in 2022, the very same ratings board was where the world first learned that Final Fantasy XVI would be the series’ first rated M title for its depiction of sexual themes, nudity, and hate crimes.

Time will tell whether the Red Dead Redemption 2 port is a real thing, and if it will be yet another port whose gameplay performance won’t warrant the price tag.

Red Dead Redemption Can Now Run At 60 Frames Per Second On PS5

The protagonist of Red Dead Redemption aims a shotgun at the camera.

Image: Rockstar Games

While the rerelease of Red Dead Redemption via a new port on August 17 of 2023 was great news for fans of the original and those who missed out when the game originally shipped 13 years ago, it was missing some desirable features. At $50 bucks with no option to run at a more modern 60 frames per second, the rerelease felt a little lacking. After a recent update, however, the PS5 version of the RDR port now offers the option to play at 60FPS.

Fans of Rockstar’s open-world Western have long wanted a more modern way to play the game on current hardware. Originally on Xbox 360 and PS3, the game released in 2010 and unlike its celebrated sequel, Red Dead Redemption 2, had not seen a release on PC or more modern consoles until the recent digital rerelease on PS4 and Switch in August. That rerelease sells for $50 (a physical version is expected on October 13) but lacked the option to run at a higher framerate, and also doesn’t include the original release’s multiplayer modes. The rerelease doesn’t seem to be headed to PC or Xbox consoles, and only works on PS5 via backwards compatibility as a PS4 title.

Buy Red Dead Redemption: Amazon | Best Buy | GameStop

In 2010, console performance often hovered around 30 frames per second (though more demanding games often brought that number far lower on Xbox 360 and PS3). Today, cutting-edge games like Starfield, for example, still aim to hit a reliable 30 frames per second, but rereleases and remasters of older games frequently include options to run at higher framerates. Red Dead Redemption’s lack of an option to take advantage of the higher processing power of more recent consoles set it apart from other such rereleases.

Of course, it wasn’t long before hardware enthusiasts were able to demonstrate that it very well could have included such an option. Running on a hacked Nintendo Switch, Red Dead Redemption was more than able to reliably reach 60 frames per second.

Thankfully, getting such performance out of John Marston’s epic adventure isn’t limited to those with cracked consoles anymore. The game’s recent 1.03 patch on PlayStation includes an option in the game’s settings for 60FPS on PS5.

Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any indication of more features or future releases for the 2010 open world classic.