Rockstar allows terminally ill man to play Red Dead Redemption 2 early

Rockstar Games is pretty notorious for their secrecy whether that’s through details about their games, the inner workings of their studio, or even moments that show a more human side of them. Recently, a young man named Jurian reached out to game website Gamersnet to share a touching story.

Jurian is terminally ill with a rare chronic disease known as  Neurofibromatosis Type 2 and he’s sadly in his final days. Like many of us, Jurian is anxiously anticipating the release of Rockstar’s open-world western epic, Red Dead Redemption 2 but given his circumstances, he may not make it to release or have time to play it once it does come out this month.

Jurian’s been waiting a long time to play this game like the rest of us and his father reached out to Rockstar to arrange possibly getting an early copy for him.

“As I was waiting in suspense for Red Dead Redemption 2, my father got in touch with the publisher, if they had a copy earlier as an exception. Rockstar Netherlands wanted to give it but they were not allowed to, so they had contact with the head office, who quickly arranged something beautiful for me,” Jurian said in a statement. “At the end of the week, two employees of Rockstar Nederland came to my house and gave me a private demonstration of the game. After an afternoon of playing, they unfortunately took the game again.”

While he didn’t get to play the game start to finish, it sounds like Jurian got some extensive hands-on time with the highly-anticipated game. The gamer noted he has seen other stories like this such as something with Nintendo who has previously allowed ill gamers to play the Nintendo Switch and Breath of the Wild before release, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, and more.

“Since I recently read an article about a similar case with Nintendo, I wanted to tell you. Since Rockstar has also done something beautiful,” Jurian said.

It’s truly wonderful when gaming allows moments of levity in a dark period of someone’s life. Even through all the suffering, immersing yourself in a rich world like Rockstar’s wild west can offer a moment to briefly heal and forget about all the pain. We wish Jurian the best and commend Rockstar for giving someone a rare opportunity like this to help ease the pain.

Red Dead Redemption 2 will officially release on October 26th, 2018 for Xbox One and PS4.