A team of approximately 1,600 people developed Red Dead Redemption 2 over several years. Rockstar Games published the action-adventure game in October 2018 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and in November 2019 for Windows and Stadia. Rockstar co-opted all of its studios into one large team to facilitate development. The story is set in 1899 in a fictionalized representation of the Western, Midwestern, and Southern United States and follows outlaw Arthur Morgan, a member of the Van der Linde gang. Arthur must deal with the decline of the Wild West while attempting to survive against government forces, rival gangs, and other adversaries. The story also follows fellow gang member John Marston, the protagonist of Red Dead Redemption (2010).

Rockstar used motion capture to record the performances of the cast, as well as face cameras to capture their facial reactions for later animation. The secretive nature of Rockstar's development processes meant that the actors and director were unsure of the future of the characters during production; the writers continued to work on the script while the actors shot their scenes in segments. Rockstar wanted a diverse cast of characters within the Van der Linde gang and put particular focus on the individual stories behind each character. While one of the main themes of the original game was to protect family at all costs, Red Dead Redemption 2 tells the story of the breakdown of a family in the form of the Van der Linde gang.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is the first game from Rockstar built specifically for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Rockstar had tested the technical capabilities of the consoles when porting Grand Theft Auto V. Once the team had defined what limitations were sustainable, they found the areas that required the most focus. The game features an original score, composed by musician Woody Jackson, who worked with Rockstar on Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto V. The score features contributions from artists such as Colin Stetson, Senyawa, and Arca. Rockstar engaged Daniel Lanois to produce the original vocal tracks for the game, collaborating with artists such as D'Angelo, Willie Nelson, Rhiannon Giddens, and Josh Homme.

Red Dead Redemption 2 was officially announced in October 2016; it was heavily promoted and widely anticipated. Rockstar missed the original release date, delaying the game three times for further polishing. Rockstar marketed the game through video trailers, announcing specific details about the game as development continued. Various special editions of the game were released. The game's development underwent media scrutiny due to the extensive hours expected of employees and the culture of "crunch" at the developer. The game's online multiplayer mode, Red Dead Online, opened its beta in November 2018; the beta ended in May 2019.

History and overview

Preliminary work on Red Dead Redemption 2 began shortly following the release of the original game, Red Dead Redemption (2010). Publisher Rockstar Games began receiving internal pitches for a sequel during production of the first game and found the idea of a gang narrative "too compelling to turn away". Vice President of Creative Dan Houser and a key team of developers worked on the game's concept. Houser spoke to Rockstar San Diego, the studio behind the original game, in early 2011 about the game's characters and style. The team had a rough outline by mid-year, and by late 2012, rough scripts of the game had been completed. Houser performed read-throughs of the script on video conference calls with animation, art design, and gameplay directors from all of Rockstar's worldwide offices. When Rockstar Games realized a group of distinct studios would not necessarily work, it co-opted all of its studios into one large team, presented simply as Rockstar Games, to facilitate development among 1,600 developers; a total of around 2,000 people worked on the game. Studio director Rob Nelson led the 650-person Rockstar North, joining production full-time in the final half after completing other projects. Analyst estimations place the game's development budget between and , and its marketing budget between and ; with a combined total between and , this would make it one of the most expensive video games ever developed.

In October 2018, Houser said the team had been working 100-hour weeks "several times" throughout the year. Many sources interpreted this statement as crunch for the entire development staff of the game, comparable to similar accusations made by wives of Rockstar San Diego employees in regards to the development of the game's predecessor. The following day, Rockstar clarified in a statement the work duration mentioned by Houser only affected the senior writing staff for Red Dead Redemption 2—which comprised himself, Michael Unsworth, Rupert Humphries, and Lazlow Jones—and the duration had only been the case for three weeks during the entire development. Houser added the company would never expect or force any employee to work as long as was stated, and those staying late at the development studios were powered by their passion for the project. Rockstar shared its employees' average reported weekly hours for 2018: 42.4 from January to March, 45.5 from April to June, and 45.8 for July to September. The company lifted its social media policies and allowed developers to speak about their experiences publicly; some supported Houser's statement, noting that conditions had improved since Grand Theft Auto V (2013) and they had never been asked to work 100-hour weeks, and others acknowledged crunch was present but not excessive.

Conversely, some Rockstar employees argued Houser's statements did not give an accurate picture of the "crunch-time culture" at the company that many of its employees worked under, which included "mandatory" overtime and years-long periods of crunch. Due to the salary-based nature of employment contracts, many of these employees were not compensated for their overtime work and instead depended on year-end bonus payments that hinged on the sales performance of the game. After speaking with 77 current and former employees, Kotakus Jason Schreier reported none had worked 100-hour weeks—many averaged around 55 or 60 hours—but they were often "asked or felt compelled to work nights and weekends"; some Rockstar San Diego employees said 80-hour weeks were often mandatory between 2011 and 2016, being told to "just test [Grand Theft Auto V] for another eight hours" if they had no current work on Red Dead Redemption 2. Crunch on the game started in 2016 or 2017 for some employees. Several admitted it had been their own decision due to their love of the product and desire to create art, while others felt it was necessary due to the frequent overhauls required by Houser and his brother, president and executive producer Sam Houser.

The quality assurance (QA) team faced the worst crunch, followed by the cinematics and design teams, and the Lincoln and New York studios shared the highest number of crunch stories; the former was Rockstar's primary QA studio, consisting of more than 300 employees. Several Lincoln workers claimed overtime had been mandatory from August 2017, while in October 2018 Rockstar claimed and clarified it had been requested but remained optional; Rockstar had requested employees work 52.5 hours per week between October 2017 and August 2018, and 57.5 hours in August and September 2018. Some employees found Rockstar a positive place to work despite crunch, while others considered themselves mistreated and described a "culture of fear" for speaking out. Many reported they suffered from depression as a result of their time at Rockstar and had witnessed breakdowns from current and former employees. Rockstar's reputation meant several workers tolerated the conditions. A sentiment echoed across employee statements was working conditions had somewhat improved since Red Dead Redemption, and any attempts to boycott the game due to crunch reports would be harmful. By April 2020, employees reported that the company had made significant changes as a result of the publicity surrounding the work culture, and many were cautiously optimistic about Rockstar's future.

Story and setting

While one of the main themes of the original game was to protect family at all costs, Red Dead Redemption 2 tells the story of the breakdown of a family in the form of the Van der Linde gang. The team was interested in exploring the story of why the gang fell apart, as frequently mentioned in the first game. Josh Bass, art director at Rockstar San Diego, felt the presence of gang leader Dutch van der Linde "loomed over" the original game. Like the first game, Red Dead Redemption 2 is set during the fall of the American frontier in a world becoming too modern for the gang. Aaron Garbut, Rockstar North director of art, said Rockstar "aimed to capture a wide slice of American life in 1899, a rapidly industrializing nation that would soon have its sights on the world stage". The team focused on creating an accurate reflection of the time period; the game's citizens contrast between rich and poor, while the locales contrast between civilization and wilderness. Houser wanted the gang's withdrawal from society to be the antithesis of the game's calm opening. The first chapter was viewed as a method to freshen the landscape, pitting a group of cowboys against a snowy blizzard. The team redesigned the opening chapter for its extensive length, as Houser considered it the most important chapter. Nelson felt the ending was "the right ending" for the game due to the nature of the original title.

Houser described the narrative scale as "more like Thackeray than Hemingway", with several changes in the characters, locations, and ideologies. He was inspired by film and literature when writing the game, though avoided contemporary works to avoid being accused of idea theft. He cited Uriah Heep, the fictional character from Charles Dickens's David Copperfield (1850), and some of the work of Arthur Conan Doyle as significant influences, as well as Henry James, John Keats, and Émile Zola. Houser wanted some narrative elements to indirectly reflect contemporary events, noting "it's more this sensation that we found interesting in the 19th century that spoke to us, and I hope it speaks to people about today's problems". He did not want the game to be viewed as a work of history but rather as a work of historical fiction, opting to allude to historical events instead of retelling them due to their unpleasantness. The final script for the game's main story was around 2,000 pages, though Houser estimated the pile of pages "would be eight feet high" if all side missions and additional dialogue was included. Individual pedestrian actors each had scripts of around 80 pages in length. About five hours of the game were dumped before release, some of which featured a second love interest for protagonist Arthur Morgan and a mission taking place on a train with bounty hunters; according to Houser, they were removed as "they were never going to work technically or be quite slick enough, or they felt superfluous".