Rockstar's confirmation
In a press conference, Rockstar announced that its multiplayer priority would lean more toward GTA Online than Red Dead Online, and that there would be no major new updates or content drops. You could argue all of this was a testing ground to prepare GTA VI and, more broadly, to evolve their multiplayer games. We can only hope it served them well.
Over the past few days, fans gathered in the game dressed in black to protest the decision and mourn RDRO. For context, the average number of players connected to RDRO had recently been around 2,000, while GTA Online holds steady at 85,000. So it makes sense that Rockstar favors GTA V, with numbers like that almost 10 years after release.
Then again, maybe if the content had been richer, the player count could have held at a higher level?
Let's hope the online side of RDR3 won't be a side project, and that it becomes a real priority for Rockstar. In the meantime, tell us what improvements you would like to see in RDR3.