Rockstar now holds two records for gaming's biggest openers, and Red Dead Redemption 2's launch sales are second only to GTA V.
Despite being a Western game with tons of punishing and meticulous mechanics, Red Dead Redemption 2 is a monumental win for Take-Two Interactive. The game has broken all sorts of records in its first three days, and raked in a huge $725 million in its opening weekend. And that's just from retail copies, not digital. For comparison's sake, GTA V made over $1 billion in three days, and one-day sales is crowned by Black Ops 2 which made $500 million in a single day.
"Rockstar Games is proud to announce that the critically acclaimed Red Dead Redemption 2 has achieved the single-biggest opening weekend in the history of entertainment," Take-Two wrote in a recent press release.
"With over $725 million in worldwide retail sell-through during its first three days, Red Dead Redemption 2 is the second-highest grossing entertainment launch of all time next to Rockstar Games' previously released title, Grand Theft Auto V, which achieved over $1 billion in retail sell-through in three days."
The game was also a huge inadvertent win for Sony, too: RDR2 is the most pre-ordered game in PlayStation Network history, and had the most day-one and three-day game sales on the PS Store. Remember every game sold on the PlayStation Store nets Sony a cut of revenues.
Since it will follow GTA Online's successful online-based engagement strategy, Red Dead Redemption 2 is poised to consistently make millions over time. Red Dead Online will bring new modes and hybridized co-op and PVP content to the 1899 Western frontier, and offer opportunities for gamers to spend money on digital currency for long-term earnings.
Take-Two Interactive will undoubtedly reveal more figures--including digital sales--during its Fiscal Q2'19 earnings call on November 7.
Check below for more of Red Dead Redemption 2's milestones:
Red Dead Redemption 2's list of initial benchmarks include:
- Biggest opening weekend in retail sell-through across all entertainment releases;
- Second biggest launch (three days) in retail sell-through across all entertainment releases;
- Biggest entertainment launch of 2018;
- Most pre-ordered full game ever on PlayStation Network;
- Biggest day one full game sales ever on PlayStation Network;
- Biggest first three days full game sales ever on PlayStation Network.