Red Dead Redemption’s multiplayer launch was reportedly so unstable that its lead developer initially wondered whether Rockstar Games was being deliberately targeted or hacked. The account highlights the scale of technical problems faced when the mode went live and illustrates how unexpected the failures appeared to the development team.

According to the developer, the volume and nature of the bugs prompted the reaction: “Is somebody trolling us? What’s going on?” The report looks back at the multiplayer debut of Rockstar’s western action game, suggesting the problems were extensive enough to raise concerns beyond an ordinary difficult launch.