Rockstar might be pouring every resource into Grand Theft Auto 6 right now, but that hasn’t stopped the community from scanning the horizon for cowboy hatsin Red Dead Redemption 3. The dust has barely settled on Arthur Morgan’s journey, yet the appetite for another trip into the American frontier is already massive. While the studio stays tight-lipped, the breadcrumbs are there if you know where to look.
In short: almost certainly. You don’t walk away from a title that has shifted over 80 million copies. Before his departure, Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser explicitly described the series as a “permanent franchise,” putting it in the same untouchable tier as GTA. It’s not a matter of if, but when.
The reality, however, is that these open worlds take nearly a decade to build. While the next chapter is likely in the concept phase, we probably won’t see a trailer until we’ve spent a good few years in Vice City. But that hasn’t stopped the rumor mill from spinning.
A solid franchise
Red Dead Redemption 2 still looks better than most games releasing today, but a sequel, Red Dead Redemption 3, built specifically for PS5 and PS6 hardware is a mind-bending prospect. We aren’t just talking about higher resolution. Fans are clamoring for seamless 120FPS performance during high-speed chases and hyper-realistic ray-tracing that makes those famous sunsets hit even harder.
Then there’s the controller. The DualSense has changed how immersion feels, and RDR3 needs to use it. Imagine feeling the distinct grit of the terrain through haptic feedback or the tension of a bowstring in the adaptive triggers. It’s the kind of technical leap that justifies the long wait.
New frontiers and old faces
This is where the theories really take off. The timeline is tricky, but the community has ideas. A direct sequel following Jack Marston seems like the obvious path, potentially taking us into the prohibition era or expanding the map down into Mexico for a new flavor of lawlessness. Others want to go further back to the golden age of the Van der Linde gang, or start fresh with a completely new cast of outlaws.
Rockstar has a rare opportunity here. They can double down on the deep, moral storytelling that defined the last game while expanding the sandbox with dynamic wildlife and more meaningful open-world interactions. Whatever direction they choose, the expectations are sky-high. Until we get an official logo tease, we’ll have to settle for replaying the classics.