Rockstar Games' Red Dead Redemption 2 was always expected to be a huge hit. Of course, few people probably thought about just how big of a hit the game would be for Take-Two Interactive, but the actual numbers just surprise you given the insane amount of money the game made in just three days.
Variety is reporting that the game generated $725 million in just three days from its worldwide retail release. It managed to break records in terms of the amount of revenue generated in the entertainment industry with an opening weekend.
As pointed out by Variety, this eclipsed one of the biggest movies ever made, Avengers: Infinity War. This also surpasses Rockstar's previous outings, including the original Red Dead Redemption for the Xbox 360 and PS3, along with GTA IV. However, the game wasn't quite big enough to outdo the three-day total for any entertainment property, which is still held by Rockstar's own GTA V, which came out back in 2013.
That game has been a massive money maker for Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive for the last five years, becoming the biggest entertainment property in the world. And that's all on top of the $1 billion generated from sell-throughs during the first three days on the market for the Xbox 360 and PS3.
A year later, Rockstar released the game on the Xbox One and PS4 with a few graphical upgrades here and there, along with a release on Steam for PC, with even more graphical upgrades and of course the addition of mods, which drove the game's revenue intake through the roof... again.
But you're probably wondering how Red Dead Redemption 2 could have broken a sales record if it didn't beat out GTA V's record? Well, it's because both games launched on different days. GTA V launched on a Tuesday, giving it a full week-day of sales to accrue its numbers over the three day period. Red Dead Redemption 2 launched on the weekend, enabling it to accrue numbers specifically for a weekend release. What's funny about this is that typically this is how Hollywood tracks numbers for its properties, oftentimes starting with the Thursday preview and then following through with the Friday through Sunday numbers over the weekend.
So Rockstar wanted to not only attempt to break records in the world of gaming, but the company also wanted to show up Hollywood by launching on the weekend to break entertainment records in that category as well.
It definitely leaves the question open as to whether or not Rockstar would have made more or less had Red Dead Redemption 2 launched on a Tuesday, which is typical for most big AAA releases, as opposed to launching on a Friday?
Regardless of when it launched, the article also notes that Sony chimed in to say that the game managed to also set records for the highest pre-orders ever on the PlayStation 4, and the highest sales ever for a three day launch on the PlayStation Network as a digital title, beating out previous AAA exclusives such as Bloodborne and Naughty Dog's Uncharted 4. One must wonder if Naughty Dog will be able to take back the crown with the launch of The Last of Us: Part II?
For now, Rockstar gets to bask in the glory of being the sales king on multiple platforms thanks to the record-breaking numbers posted over the weekend for Red Dead Redemption 2.
