“Free” Upgrade Failure: Why Are Xbox Owners Still Waiting on Red Dead Redemption?

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It has been six days. Nearly a whole week has passed since Rockstar Games finally released the native version of Red Dead Redemption for current-gen consoles on December 2. For PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2 owners, the launch seemed relatively smooth. But for us on Xbox? It’s been a standoff that John Marston himself would find exhausting.

If you’re like me, you’ve owned the digital version of Red Dead Redemption (the Xbox 360 classic) for years. We were the ones who kept the game alive through the Backward Compatibility program, enjoying the 4K enhancements on our Series X consoles long before this native port was announced.

Rockstar promised us a reward for that loyalty: a free upgrade to the new, native Xbox Series X/S version. It was supposed to be simple. We own the digital 360 copy; we get the new 60FPS, native 4K version for free.

So, why does the Microsoft Store still want to charge me for the game?

The Glitch That Stole the Release Week

When the clock struck launch time on December 2, excited fans rushed to the store to claim their upgrade. Instead of a “Get” or “Install” button, we were greeted with a purchase button.

Rockstar Support acknowledged the issue almost immediately, posting on social media that they were “aware of an issue” and “working with Microsoft to resolve it.” That was Tuesday.

It is now Monday, December 8.

While there have been scattered reports of the upgrade slowly rolling out to some users, a massive portion of the community is still stuck in limbo. We are staring at a store page demanding we pay for a game we were told we’d get for free, while our friends on other platforms are already halfway through New Austin.

Why This Hurts

Technical glitches happen. We get it. But the lack of clear communication over the last few days is baffling.

  • The Silence: Beyond the initial acknowledgment, updates have been scarce. Is it a licensing database error? A store backend failure?
  • The FOMO: This is a 15-year-old game, yes, but the allure of 60FPS and native rendering is strong. Being locked out of the conversation because of a store bug feels surprisingly bad.
  • The “Workarounds”: Reddit and Twitter are full of desperate theories—”try checking out through the web store,” “reset your console location,” “wait 24 hours.” None of them are consistent fixes.

The Verdict

We shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to redeem a promised upgrade. If the infrastructure wasn’t ready to verify Xbox 360 digital licenses against the new Series X SKU, the launch should have been managed differently.

For now, all we can do is wait and refuse to click that “Buy” button out of principle. Rockstar and Microsoft need to close this case file quickly. It’s December 8—the “launch window” is officially closed. Now, it’s just a delay.

Update us, Rockstar. We’re ready to ride.

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