The Red Dead Redemption community has had mixed reactions to yesterday's announcement from Rockstar Games - a port of the original Red Dead Redemption to PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

The news has some positives, in that it'll bring the game to more platforms and make it easier to play for people who don't have a PlayStation 3 or play on Xbox. With the game now on all modern platforms, it also guarantees access to it for at least another couple of years which is good for games preservation.

Unfortunately, that's where praise for the re-releases ends, as Red Dead Redemption fans have taken to social channels to voice their disappointment and frustrations.

Although it's been described as a "conversion" by Rockstar, this re-release looks to be a barebones port for modern consoles, with no mention of improvements to graphics or framerate. From the trailer, it's clear that this isn't a remaster in the way some were expecting. The only addition mention is expanded language support which, whilst welcome, is not what most fans were hoping for.

The lack of improvements is one issue, but the lack of content from the original game is another. The notable absence here is multiplayer, which was originally available and kept regularly expanded with free DLC packs that added more missions, maps, and characters.

To top that all off, the port costs £40/$50, which is more expensive than buying its Xbox 360 counterpart on the Xbox Games Store, which is playable still on Xbox Series X/S. Fans have also been quick to point out that $50 for a 13 year old game which has less content than its original and doesn't take advantage of the modern technology it's running on is expensive, with some saying they simply aren't willing to cough up that amount for the meagre offering.

This isn't even including PC players (which, funnily enough, is exactly what Rockstar continues to do), who are once again feeling the sting as the game isn't brought to PC.

Top comments on the game's announcement trailer are mostly along the lines of "Rockstar never fails to disappoint". Complaints on Rockstar's Twitter share the same sentiment, expanding on why they're unhappy with the port. One of the top posts on the game's subreddit is a short call to other fans, encouraging them to hold off from purchasing the Switch and PS4 release.

In light of all this, fans are highlighting a 2011 quote from Strauss Zelnick, boss of Rockstar parent Take-Two, in which he discussed the company's thinking behind remastering games rather than just porting them. "We don't just port titles over, we actually take the time to do the very best job we can making the title different for the new release, for the new technology that we're launching it on," he said (as reported by VGC). "So, we improve the technology, we upgrade the visuals, and we make performance enhancements."

Months later, in November 2021, Rockstar released the GTA Trilogy, which had been developed by a third-party. The release was panned by critics and fans alike for technical incompetencies.

Last year, it was reported that Rockstar canned plans to remaster Red Dead Redemption following the reception the GTA Trilogy received, which has left some fans questioning Rockstar's decision to not work on a remaster internally, but outsource a port instead.

Red Dead Redemption will launch digitally on PS4 and Switch next week on 17th August, so it won't be long before we start to see analysis of the game's performance.