Rockstar Games’ Nintendo Switch game cases are changing. Gamers who have visited their local store that sells games have reported both Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition have been given a Switch 2-style red case to store the code or potentially the cartridge in. This differs from the original Switch clear cases. The situation has caused some confusion among shoppers.
The red case-gate comes after a recent re-release of the GTA Trilogy was made. There was hopeful speculation this would contain the fully patched up version all on cart but sadly it does not leading to upset fans. It was “re-released” due to rock star taking over the publishing from Nintendo themselves.
Red Cases Appear
First spotted earlier this month by Twitter user Luffink from Spain, both of the Rockstar titles in Switch 2-style red cases were found in a store. These were the “code in box” editions rather than a case that contains the cartridge.
Meanwhile a gamer in Germany purchased a Red Dead Redemption red case. More photos out of Germany show the same thing. Code in box games are more common outside of the USA. Another consumer posted their findings to the Nintendo Switch 2 subreddit leading to many others chiming in on the situation and questioning why?


What Does It All Mean?
We don’t have an official comment from either Nintendo or Rockstar but there are various reasons why this might be happening. Whilst some fans have thought it could a way to trick shoppers who are less educated on Switch gaming to think these are Switch 2 games, it probably is not the reason though that is a valid concern.
Some retail employees might assume they are Switch 2 games even and sell them to customers as such or high street shoppers don’t look so closely. A reddit user claim they could not find Red Dead Redemption among Switch 1 games in their store. It was placed in the Switch 2 section.
That said, it is likely down to either Nintendo supplying red cases for more Switch 1 titles for consistency across their brand and shelves or manufacturing reasons. We’ve seen this happen before when PlayStation launched PS4-blue coloured case covers for PS3 games. Or when Microsoft put some Xbox 360 games in Xbox One sized cases.
Given Switch 2 is what will be the focus, making only red cases going forward makes sense from a manufacturing perspective. It is interesting that it is two Rockstar titles that have seemingly made the jump before anyone else.
In other recent GTA Trilogy news, the GTA III Definitive Edition on mobile entered GTA+. You can learn more about that here.
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