If you’re geeked up about the recent release of Red Dead Redemption 2, you’re clearly not alone. In addition to a big group of us joining that excitement, it seems that millions of others have expressed the same feelings — and you don’t need to look any further than the sales for proof.
Arguably the most anticipated video game of the entire year, the Rockstar developed Red Dead Redemption 2 have had fans in a frenzy ever since the first trailer came out showing gameplay, with this version acting as a prequel to the first version of the popular Red Dead Redemption. Well, according to IGN, all of that hype has paid off, because Red Dead Redemption 2 just became the highest-grossing weekend for any entertainment product in history, selling a mind-blowing $725 million copies in just three days.
The only reason why this release didn’t break the all-time record for an entertainment launch is because Grand Theft Auto V released on a Tuesday, so giving Red Dead Redemption 2 the title of “largest grossing weekend” is the best it could earn. Still, that’s impressive AF.
Although Red Dead Redemption 2 didn’t earn the top-grossing entertainment product title ever, “just” the weekend release accolade, the game did have the largest launch sales of any game released on the PlayStation Network to date, and it was the most pre-ordered game of all time on the PlayStation Network. Given all of the other popular titles that the PlayStation Network has, that distinction isn’t something to take lightly.
As impressive as the record-breaking sales were in the first three days, one of the other facts I found interesting was this, per VentureBeat: Red Dead Redemption 2 sales could hit 15 or 20 million copies by the end of the holidays, meaning the video game could be profitable by the end of the year.
Here’s what an analyst at Macquarie Research, Ben Schachter, had to add about the possibility of the video game being profitable by the time the calendar changes to 2019, per the VentureBeat piece.
“There are a lot of puts and takes to this, but the initial sales make us more optimistic about the holiday and beyond,” Schachter said. “There are likely higher preorders now, more digital, so that pulls forward sales. However, with Red Dead Online still to come, we think Thanksgiving to Christmas could be solid for Red Dead.”
Although there’s some uncertainty with Rockstar’s production and development costs for Red Dead Redemption 2, it’s generally believed that, given these types of sales and momentum, this video game could already have paid itself off in a few months after eight years of development. That’s just insane.