Red Dead Redemption 2 launches on Steam

Red Dead Redemption 2 came out on Steam on Thursday, but some players aren't able to experience the Old West yet. Owners of the game have left reviews saying they've been unable to launch it. 

But it appears that one problem some people are facing has an easy solution, according to various Reddit users. Players whose game keeps crashing should try to start it without a controller plugged in to the computer. It appears there's some driver issue that prevents the game from starting. Several players said their problems were fixed once they unplugged their controller. 

Publisher Rockstar Games first released the open-world game for PC on its own platform in November, but players ran into a ton of issues that caused games to crash or not even start. The publisher explained that the problems stemmed from a combination of graphics drivers, GPU cards and certain CPUs. Rockstar released multiple patches throughout November to help address the issues, with the latest update coming on Dec. 3.

To compensate players who weren't able to play Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar released a special care package for PC players. The contents of the package are for use in the game's multiplayer version, Red Dead Online, and include ammo, health items and a Prieto Pancho for the player's character. 

Rockstar Games didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Originally published Dec. 5, 1:15 p.m. PT.
Updates, 2:39 p.m.: Adds more background details; 3 p.m.: Includes mention of a solution to an issue.