One of the fundamental differences between GTA Online and Red Dead Online is in the depth and scope of their worlds, and the type of experience offered within. Red Dead Online is designed for slower and more deliberate play, a reflection of the type of systems-heavy and role-play-centric experience seen in the sprawling Red Dead Redemption 2 campaign. GTA Online, on the other hand – much like the core fantasy offered up through Grand Theft Auto 5 – is tightly focused around embracing chaos, making cash flow, and looking good while doing it; that experience doesn't translate from a bustling metropolis to dusty old frontier towns. "In GTA Online, we almost instantly made you a multi-millionaire with large scale content like yachts, and so then it's hard to take a step back from there. Then we said, 'now you could own a business, and that could make you money'. That's also great for players, but you can't step back from there either; you just have to go bigger, bigger, bigger."

For Red Dead Online, Rockstar recognises the need for "a different approach" to help lean into the fact that it is "a smaller, more hand-to-mouth world". That doesn't mean you'll never be rich in the wild, wild, west, only that it'll require a little more perseverance to succeed. By starting at the beginning of your story in Red Dead Online, Nelson says that Rockstar can "make each step forward slightly smaller but have those steps mean more to the player. All the while, you are growing more connected to your character and their experiences in the world."