Grand Theft Auto Online receives unfair attention according to Red Dead Redemption fans
On August 11, Rockstar Games released the ‘Los Santos Summer Special’ update that includes new vehicles, co-op missions, racetracks, race creator, and much more. Since Grand Theft Auto V’s release in 2013, Rockstar has added almost 40 updates to the game’s online-sandbox GTA Online.
The Summer Update introduces 15 new vehicles ranging from the Ford Thunderbird-esque ‘Vapid Peyote Custom’ to the Formula 1-like ‘Declasse DR1’. The update also comes with a whole host of vehicle upgrades like Off-Road and Street Wheels and new tire designs.
Players who own the ‘Galaxy Superyacht’ now have access to 6 new cooperative missions that not only come with a unique sailing themed outfit upon completion but also include Double Rewards until August 19.
The update also expands on the Open Wheel Race Tracks – where up to 16 players can compete in Formula-like races, selecting from a whole roster of vehicles with different wheel types and Pit Stops that players can use to repair vehicles mid-race. The update also introduced robust additions to Open Wheel Race Creator, including new racetrack archways, pit-stops, and paddocks among the 60 new items players can customize their tracks with.
Business Battles, which pit’s players against each other to steal cargo for their Nightclub Warehouses, also received some new content. In addition to higher rewards upon completion, new Battles can be fought all around Los Santos, including cooperative assaults on aircraft carriers.
8 new Adversary Modes such as Every Bullet Counts and Slasher have been made available for play inside the Diamond Casino & Resort. As Rockstar themselves put it, “Casing and robbing the joint is fun, but sometimes you need to scratch that competitive itch.”
The Summer Special Update also brings new clothing items, arcade cabinets, collectibles, and many quality of life improvements such as increased Property limits, new Pegasus Vehicle spawn locations, and stability increases that mitigate freezes and crashes.
Even though Rockstar remains consistent in supporting GTA Online with regular updates, many on Twitter took the opportunity to criticize Rockstar for their alleged disregard for their western-themed sandbox, Red Dead Online.
@Stea1thyPick1e wrote, “How about telling your community about the issues with red dead after the patch to fix the patch that broke the game even more? You’ve been super silent on this issue, and players are raging. Support has admitted game fault but nothing on social media.”
The outcry came as a result of Red Dead Online’s latest 1.21 Title Update that introduced a large number of gameplay issues, including connection problems, low animal spawns, and even the corruption of player data.
Rockstar replied to many similar grievances by linking to a form for players to submit support tickets, which in turn only brought about more anger and ridicule due to Rockstar’s reputation for being slow to follow-up on support requests.
"Please create a support ticket to which we'll reply super fast that you're being escalated to proper department and we'll then proceed to never contact you again.
— Pat Nadeau (@L4PatNadeau) August 13, 2020
Yours truly, Rockstar - becoming EA Slowly."
Eventually, after an unceasing tidal wave of support tickets and complaints on social media, Rockstar rolled back Red Dead Online to the previous version released late July.
Many accusations made at Rockstar cite the company’s tendency to downplay the lack of support for their less popular titles with “bread and circuses” – whereby the powers that be attempt to appease the public from pressing matters using gifts and charities as distractions.
As of now, Rockstar is yet to stabilize the 1.21 update for Red Dead Online; however, they announced that they are still working on a fix, and promise to share updates as soon as possible.
