Red Dead Redemption delayed to add more "polish", says Rockstar

Red Dead Redemption's delay last night is to add a bit more "polish", publisher Rockstar has said.

Originally due next month for the US and Europe, the game is now scheduled to launch on May 18 in the US and May 21 in Europe.

"We at Rockstar have always prided ourselves on the uncompromising quality of our games - and will always opt to take a bit longer to polish and fine-tune a game to be as perfect as possible when we think it necessary," a Rockstar rep told Kotaku.

"With Red Dead Redemption, we felt that these extra few weeks will make a big difference in helping us deliver you an experience beyond your expectations."

This clashes with comments made by Take Two CEO Ben Feder during the company's Q1 financial conference call last night, when he cited the delay was down to "optimal" release schedules.

"We shifted the launch of the game by several weeks into the third quarter. We believe this is the optimal time frame to release what is being hailed as the next generation of sandbox games."