Video game development, especially for projects as huge as Red Dead Redemption 2, keeps getting bigger. Granted, Rockstar released plenty of games between 2010 and 2018, but it was still an eight year wait from one Red Dead Redemption to the next. These games take time, and it seems likely the wait for Red Dead Redemption 3 would be even longer as game design grows increasingly complex.

Rockstar is not the type of developer that releases an unfinished version of its next big game into Early Access while continuing development on the fly. It does tinker with its products once released — as Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption 2 demonstrate — but those games hit the market with a level of polish that's impressive even among AAA titles. That meticulous nature would obviously find its way into the development of Red Dead Redemption 3.

This alone would not be enough to slam the door on the game — plenty of AAA titles have a long development cycle. But, there are more factors in play.