What you need to know
- Red Dead Redemption 2 has come to PC today through the Rockstar Launcher and Epic Games Store.
- Many players are having issues in getting the game to run or even start.
- Red Dead Redemption 2 is also coming to Steam sometime in December.
Update: Nov. 5, 2019: Rockstar Games has issued an update that should fix player problems with the Rockstar Launcher. This patch fixes the different crashes and error messages players were experiencing, as well as the need to verify player data.
Red Dead Redemption 2 has come to PC via the Rockstar Launcher and Epic Games Store, yet some players are reporting major issues in trying to start the game. A handful of these problems are fairly innocuous, like the chunky Arthur Morgan. Others are far more problematic and are keeping players from doing anything in game at all.
The Rockstar Launcher in particular is giving some players problems, causing the game not to open and players to receive the message that "Red Dead Redemption 2 exited unexpectedly" or "The Rockstar Launcher exited unexpectedly." One of our editors, Carli Velocci, is also unable to get the game to start, even in safe mode and is receiving these same error messages. Despite the game not starting, Carli also noted that it is causing her CPU to essentially max out, which other players on Reddit have also noted.
She was able to fix her issues by turning off her anti-virus software, verifying the integrity of the files in the Launcher, running the program as an administrator and, finally, launching the game in Safe Mode, which is requested after the game crashes the first time.
Rockstar suggests a number of fixes, including making sure that the player's graphics drivers are upt ot date and to run the game as an administrator. You can find some others here. The Reddit thread linked above also notes that disabling antivirus software and updating Bios had varying degrees of success.
While players using the Epic Games Store are reporting some performance problems as well, it seems like the Rockstar Launcher is the main issue faced at the moment. We'll continue to monitor this situation and provide updates is a solution is made known or Rockstar Games issues a statement. Red Dead Redemption 2 is coming to Steam as well, though we don't know when except that it is slated for sometime in December. It's not a small game on PC, requiring 150 GB of free space. Red Dead Redemption 2 came to consoles in 2018, where it was the best-selling game of 2018 and the second-largest entertainment launch in history.
