Red Dead Online Leak Reveals Massive Revenues and Player Counts Despite No Updates

In a surprising twist for one of Rockstar Games' most beloved yet neglected live-service titles, a fresh data leak has pulled back the curtain on Red Dead Online's hidden financial muscle. Even though the multiplayer mode of Red Dead Redemption 2 hasn't seen a major content update in years, the game continues to generate tens of millions in revenue and draw hundreds of thousands of players every week. The revelations come courtesy of a hack by the teenage group ShinyHunters, who dumped gigabytes of internal Rockstar documents online just yesterday.

The leaked figures paint a clear picture: Red Dead Online is far from dead. Between June 4, 2024, and the start of April 2026, the game raked in nearly $50 million purely from in-game purchases — mostly gold bars. Here's the breakdown:

• 2024 (June 4 – December 31): $17,121,648.48

• 2025: $24,871,160.14

• 2026 (January 1 – April): $6,190,538.00

That averages out to roughly $507,193 per week, with a peak of $868,068 during Christmas week 2024. Annualized, that's an estimated $26.4 million in revenue — all from a game Rockstar has largely stopped supporting in favor of GTA 6 development.

Player engagement tells a similar story. Over the same period, Red Dead Online averaged around 1 million active users per week, with 123,748 new players jumping in weekly. Peak weeks saw as many as 1,295,690 players logging on — and these numbers are for the online mode alone, not counting the single-player story campaign.

To put that into perspective, the leak also highlights just how dominant GTA Online remains. In a shorter timeframe, Rockstar's other live-service behemoth pulled in $500 million from microtransactions, and the franchise as a whole has surpassed $5 billion since launch. Still, Red Dead Online's numbers are impressive for a title many fans consider "abandoned."

Why does this matter?

Red Dead Online launched in 2018 with massive hype as Rockstar's answer to the GTA Online formula in the Wild West. It delivered stunning visuals, immersive role-play, and a deep progression system built around gold bars and trader/moonshiner roles. But content droughts began early, and by 2022–2023, updates had slowed to a trickle. The community has long speculated that Rockstar shifted every available developer to Grand Theft Auto VI, leaving Red Dead Online on life support.

Yet the leak shows the gamble paid off in pure dollars. Even without new missions, roles, or maps, loyal players — and a steady stream of newcomers — keep spending. Gold bars still fly off the virtual shelves, proving the game's timeless appeal and the power of its microtransaction economy.

Community reactions are pouring in fast.

On forums and social media, fans are torn between celebration and frustration. Some point out that $26 million a year is more than many AA titles make in their entire lifecycle — proof that Red Dead Online could have thrived with even minimal support. Others see the data as confirmation of why Rockstar walked away: why pour resources into a $26M earner when GTA Online prints half a billion in the same window?

One thing is certain: the leak has reignited calls for Rockstar to revisit the frontier. With GTA 6 still months (or years) away and Red Dead Redemption 2 continuing to sell like hotcakes on PlayStation and Xbox, many wonder if a small team couldn't breathe new life into the online mode — or at least keep the servers humming with occasional quality-of-life fixes.

The bigger picture for Rockstar

This isn't the first time internal data has surfaced, but it is one of the most revealing windows into the company's live-service strategy. Red Dead Online proves that a "forgotten" Rockstar project can still print money on autopilot. Whether that encourages more investment in the franchise or simply validates the decision to double down on GTA remains to be seen.

For now, the outlaws of the American West keep riding — and keep paying — long after the updates stopped rolling in. If nothing else, the leak reminds us that in the world of live-service games, sometimes the quietest titles are the ones quietly stacking gold.

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