Red Dead Redemption 2 Is Rockstar's Google Stadia Game

Rockstar Games has been confirmed as a Google Stadia developer for months, but in all that time the company hasn’t announced which games it’s bringing to the platform. That changed today with the announcement of Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC, and paired with the official announcement from Rockstar Games was word that it will be a launch title on Stadia.

The secrecy makes sense, as Stadia essentially runs PC games off of a server and feeds the video to users at home through the cloud. Confirming Red Dead 2 for Stadia would have been confirming it for PC as well. There may still be other Rockstar games slated for the service, but at the very least we know enough for it to have been on the Stadia developer list.

Stadia launches in November and will have Red Dead Redemption 2 upon launch, so it’s not known at this point if you’ll have any option to pre-order. Other platforms offer their own suite of pre-order bonuses, especially through Rockstar’s own games launcher. That launcher can get you two free games, a bunch of in-game items, and more. For more details check out our Red Dead Redemption 2 PC pre-order guide. A Steam version isn’t coming until December and pre-order bonuses have not been detailed.

The advantage of Stadia is that it allows players to have the high-end visuals, which Rockstar says have been enhanced for the PC release, without paying for a powerful gaming PC. That will all rely on the technology working as advertised, though, and proving itself on that is one of its major obstacles to overcome.