‘Red Dead Redemption’ For Xbox One’s Popularity Causing Problems On Microsoft’s Store

The day when Xbox One users can play Red Dead Redemption on their current generation consoles is finally here! That’s the good news. The bad news is it appears there are so many people trying to purchase the game that Microsoft’s online store is having problems handling the load.

Red Dead Redemption has long been one of the most popular games its developer, Rockstar Games, has every churned out. That popularity level is even that high when being compared to games long on the Xbox One and PS4 such as Grand Theft Auto V. The title has gained more of a following every year, largely in part because there has never been a follow-up title.

Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare

Luckily for fans of Red Dead Redemption who played the game on the Xbox 360 but couldn’t play it on their Xbox One, the game went backwards compatible on Friday. The move comes after months of speculation, especially after the title showed up on the backwards compatible list in what was a bit of a mistake by the firm.

Microsoft clearly had a decent idea of the popularity of the title, as Larry Hyrb, otherwise known as Major Nelson, announced Red Dead Redemption was becoming backwards compatible on July 5, days ahead of the launch. Even better news for those excited by this revelation is the release coincides with Microsoft’s massive summer sale, and the title was included as one of those deeply discounted.

That means gamers were able to purchase Red Dead Redemption for just over $7.50 if they had an Xbox Live Gold account — or at least they could purchase the game for that price if they could get the store page to work properly. When going to purchase the game, Microsoft support told Inquisitr many gamers were getting a message that something had gone wrong.

The glitch in the system was not a situation where the Xbox Store was down, nor was the network. It appears the demand for the game simply overloaded the title’s individual sales page. If you are able to purchase the game and get it to download, users can get a bit of extra content for free today.

IGN points out most of the DLC has had its priced reduced to free, with other packs and content priced at just $1. The content you can get for free includes The Legends and Killers, Liars and Cheats, and Outlaws to the End DLC packs. Even smaller content packs Myths and Mavericks and Hunting and Trading expansions are free of charge as well.

There is one larger piece of DLC that has become almost as popular as the game itself: Undead Nightmare. Sadly, this has not been taken down to zero, which is understandable since it’s easily the largest DLC pack for the western shoot-em-up. It looks as if you’ll have to pay the full price for this extra content should you want to bring zombies into the mix. On the flipside, the regular price is worth every penny.

One final piece of good news is Digital Foundry managed to run a couple of tests on the Xbox One and Xbox 360 versions of the game. It turns out the Xbox One version has a rather pronounced improvement in frame rate compared to the Xbox 360 version of Red Dead Redemption. Kotaku points out this isn’t a remastered version but it has been optimized for the current generation, and that appears to be enough to soup up the graphics just a tad.

The Microsoft store problems are making it hard to get any of the content at the moment, though it’s not impossible. For those desperate to get Red Dead Redemption as soon as possible, it appears trying to download it over and over has worked for some, as it appears there are lulls in the traffic which allow for purchases to go through.

[Image via Microsoft]