The PC port of the long-awaited original Red Dead Redemption, which was released 14 years ago, costs 'commercially correct' $50

Rockstar's decision to charge $50 for Red Dead Redemption, which was a port of 2010's Red Dead Redemption, and not add any new content, was a controversial one last year. It continued RDR's decade long snub to PC gamers. We had a moment of joy when we saw that the much-lauded cowboy simulator will finally launch on Steam on October 29. However, I was shocked to see the price.

It's not surprising that this port doesn't have a price reduction compared to last year's PS4/Switch version, but it's still bad. It's a statement of the game's worth, that not only was a Rockstar release worth 14 years of waiting for, but it also deserves to be priced at nearly the same as a new triple-A game. After last year's price dispute, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said that the cost was "commercially correct" and that the bundle of RDR1 and its Undead Nightmare extension was "a great deal for consumers."

Zooming out, it appears that the price for a PC digital download port of a 2010 classic is about $20. This is less than half the price of Red Dead Redemption. Bayonetta, Arkham City Alpha Protocol and Mass Effect 2 are all only $20. RDR's PC port boasts some niceties compared to the Xbox 360/PS4/Switch version--ultrawide support, HDR, DLSS and high refresh--but honestly, these are the bare necessities I'd expect of a console generation-delayed release, the things that we lambasted Metal Gear Master Collection for lacking at launch.

Is Red Dead Redemption worth twice as much as Mass Effect 2? I don't think $50 is worth it. There are plenty of ways to spend that much money on Steam. I don't like being told that a re-release of a game that is 14 years old, that should have been available for the platform ages ago or at least a year earlier, is a great value. It's a frustrating example of Rockstar's intransigence towards PC, especially before we have to wait another year or so for Grand Theft Auto 6 to be released on consoles.