‘Red Dead Online’ Beta End Date: Will Rank and Inventory Carry Over?
Please don't make us do those early missions again, Rockstar.
Red Dead Online’s beta is officially live for everyone who paid for a copy of Red Dead Redemption 2. With that out of the way, the next question is: What comes next after the beta? Is there an end date? Will my rank, inventory, and other progress carry over?
The short answer is: Maybe? The longer answer is, we really don’t know, though Rockstar Games has already provided a few clues as to what the Red Dead Online beta end date may bring.
In an official post on the company’s website, Rockstar addressed whether progress in the beta would carry over to the final game:
We hope that all player progress during this early period of the Beta will be able to remain intact long term, however as with many betas for large scale online experiences such as this, there is always the chance that we may need to implement rank or other stat resets in case of issues.
On the surface, Rockstar seems to suggest that your progress could carry over into the main game, at least if everything goes according to plan. However, the company does acknowledge that in order to keep things running smoothly it may need to reset player rank or other stats ahead of Red Dead Online’s official release.
Reading between the lines, this post also seems to suggest that the current iteration of Red Dead Online isn’t a traditional beta with a firm end date. It’s more of a continuous beta period (think Fortnite’s never-ending Early Access) that will eventually transition into a less buggy online experience.
Assuming that transition goes smoothly, all your Red Dead Online progress could carry over when the beta end date arrives. Then again, based on what we’ve seen so far, it’s unlikely that switch from beta to official release will be totally smooth.
In a recent article, Forbes speculates that inventory may be the one thing that doesn’t carry over from Red Dead Online’s beta.
“I’d say that ranks will probably remain intact and inventory wonk is likely,” the site suggests. “I’ve already lost a few sets of skins for one reason or another, and I expect it to keep happening.”
As long as inventory is the only thing affected we doubt there will be many complaints, but if everyone has to repeat Red Dead Online’s early missions all over again Rockstar could have a small riot on its hands.
We’ll just have to wait and see how it all shakes out when the Red Dead Online beta ends, whenever that might be.
Red Dead Online is available now for anyone who purchased Red Dead Redemption 2.
Related video: Fact checking ‘Red Dead Redemption 2 with an actual historian.*
