Over the weekend, enterprising Xbox gamers discovered that they could download and play Red Dead Redemption on their Xbox Ones, sparking rumors that the game would soon join the ranks of backwards compatible titles. Considering the fact that it’s one of the most demanded games for the service, and that it’s one of the best games of the previous console generation, the excitement was well-warranted.
Cue Microsoft’s Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb, the man destined to dash the hopes and dreams of countless gamers. Quickly after the news broke on gaming forums that you could download and play Red Dead Redemption on Xbox One, Microsoft shut down access to the game. And while there was hope that the game would come back, in a statement today on Reddit, Major Nelson broke everyone’s hearts by saying:
Microsoft tests all Xbox 360 games with our emulator to ensure a quality experience across a breadth of titles. Due to an error, some of the games currently in test were accidentally made available. We have since removed access to those games, and apologize for any confusion this may have caused. We will have more information on upcoming releases soon.
So… nothing to see here folks, move along. Looks like Rockstar and Take-Two have not, in fact, come to an agreement with Microsoft to re-publish Red Dead Redemption on Xbox One. There’s still some hope that it’ll come around, especially with the excitement surrounding the temporary leak, but it certainly won’t be part of the next batch.
Unless Microsoft decides to give us a friendly and welcome surprise…