In Grand Theft Auto V, the developers introduced several playable characters at once. This approach was very popular with some players, so when creating Red Dead Redemption 2, the creators feared that a single-hero story might seem boring.
During an interview with troiscouleurs, Rockstar North head Rob Nelson shared his memories. At a certain stage, the team considered adding additional characters to Red Dead Redemption 2 that players could switch between:
We always look back at previous games and think about how to improve them and develop [ideas] further. So, after GTA V with three main characters who were connected but also individual in their own way, we moved on to Red Dead Redemption 2, which was about Arthur's story. We were a little worried that players would get bored with one main character.
Rob said that questions like "Will it be possible to switch between gang members?" were asked:
Such questions were asked. I had forgotten about it, but now I remember. When you think about it, you realize that people love to speculate. But today it seems funny, because Arthur, I think, worked out great as a character, and we were able to truly deeply reveal his journey [...]
In Red Dead Redemption 2, Nelson explains, the developers were able to delve deeper into the protagonist, and also linked Arthur's development to the player's actions (through the honor system). He noted that this game had a great impact on the team, and the story of Arthur alone was very popular with many players.
Rockstar Games is currently preparing for the release of Grand Theft Auto VI — it is scheduled for November 19 this year on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles. Nothing has been officially reported about the PC version's release window. Some players hope that PS5 emulators will soon work well enough to handle the new release.