"Any game from a key third-party that’s coming out now, typically that development started well before any conversations about Nintendo Switch… that’s how you wind up with a situation with Red Dead not being available on our platfo

Several things pop up in this comparison photo -- you can see that Arthur's jacket is more illuminated and has far less shadow on the right-most image that has is taken with Update 1.06. Shadows under the bar are less prevalent and the general lighting is all around brighter.

"We’re known—let me be humble for a moment here—we are known for treating gamers with respect...And I actually would [like] for us to also be known for treating developers with respect." Iwiński stated. He went on to say that "We’ve been working toward it for some time already...but we want to be more humane and treat people with respect. If they need to take time off, they can take time off. Nobody will be frowned upon if this will be requested." Badowski also highlighted that there are personal motivations for this change as well: "We are getting older, and most of the people who are responsible for crunch, they have families, little kids, and they feel exactly the sa

The not so glamorous practice of crunch is one that has reared its head and come into the spotlight more than ever over the past year. Games like Red Dead Redemption 2 story guide|https://reddeadwildland.com/ Dead Redemption 2 and Anthem specifically have been called out for having particularly rough development periods, though there are many other examples. In a recent interview with Kotaku, Co-Founder Marcin Iwiński and Cyberpunk 2077 Director Adam Badowski highlighted that CD Projekt Red, a studio that actually has a notable reputation for crunch within the industry, is taking steps to ensure the work-life balance of the developers there is more sustainable and that crunch isn't mandat

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter earlier this week, Reggie discussed the great success that the Switch has been enjoying, but also a couple of recent shortcomings of the system. One major one being: Red Dead Redemption 2 isn’t on

However you feel about Nintendo’s plucky little hybrid handheld, you’ve got to admit that the Switch deserves some kudos. Arriving in the wake of the unfortunate Wii U, it sure had its work cut out for it. After a bumpy start, the likes of Super Mario Odyssey helped get that momentum going, and sales have been super solid ever si

Oddly enough, it doesn't appear that the latest update mentions anything about removing or altering the lighting of the game, let alone a full removal of ambient occlusion. In fact, lighting isn't mentioned at all outside of small changes and texture issues .

In fact, some eagle-eyed users were able to spot the visual discrepancies then. User RolfStarGames on the GTA Forums captured the below images doing a thorough investigation between the original build and captures post Update 1.03. You can check those images in the following gallery:

While crunch may not completely dissipate, hopefully CD Projekt Red does stick to its word and end Cyberpunk 2077's development with a period that's light on stress like Marcin Iwiński is suggesting: "I think this is the commitment we’re ready to make today, and we’ll be listening to people. We definitely open a lot of lines of dialogue here, and we’d like to start with th

Rockstar announced the partnership with New York-based Barking Irons yesterday, which features a collection of western apparel and accessories that resemble the same nods to authenticity as the realistic elements found within _ Red Dead Redemption 2

The collaboration with Barking Irons specifically also makes sense, considering the clothing line has built its brand on "peculiar American stories" - which _ Red Dead Redemption 2 _ is no stranger to - not to mention the fact that the ‘Barking Irons" name also extends into the world of alcohol with their bottle of 100-proof "Barking Irons Applejack," in which Arthur Morgan would no doubt happily indu

Update: After further digging, it's been deduced that the Red Dead Redemption 2 's reported ambient occlusion visual downgrade is far from new -- in fact, the change has been active since Update 1.03 which rolled out late last year. Even still, it doesn't appear that an explicit downgrade to shadowing via ambient occlusion was noted in the Rockstar patch notes .

There's a good chance you will need to blow these images up to notice the difference, especially if you are a newcomer to ambient occlusion. Put simply, ambient occlusion is a game rendering realistic lighting based on the actual geometry in the room -- if a lighting source would be blocked, we wouldn't expect to see every inch of nooks and crannies. For a visual demonstration, you can take a look at this (thanks to website GamingScan ):

Obviously, there is always the chance that there are mitigating factors causing these differences -- in previous rumors of downgrades, these could have been caused by differences in the weather or time of day . On the other hand, it isn't totally uncommon to see assets shift in updates as games are further optimized, either intentionally or unintentionally. However, if this is real and not just unfortunate side-by-side screenshot grabs, it is a shame. One of the principal reasons the game received a 10 from DualShockers is because it was a technical showstopper , including the lighting.