During the earnings call, parent company Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick answered questions about Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA. He confirmed that Red Dead Redemption shipped 8.5 million copies in its first year and shipped 15 million all in all. He, however, declined to talk about sales predictions on Red Dead Redemption 2.
Zelnick said that he was excited about the potential for the game to do well in sales and for its online mode to drive further player engagements down the road. According to Zelnick, there is great anticipation for the game both from the company and from the consumers. He declined to talk further about the title stating that Rockstar will talk more about the game.
Zelnick also briefly discussed the marketing support that Take-Two will provide for Red Dead Redemption 2. According to him, the company supports all of their releases very significantly. He stated that the company is incredibly proud of their marketing teams through the company and Take-Two’s support is quite significant for all releases as reported by Dual Shockers.
When asked about the potential for competition for players between the company’s two games Red Dead Redemption 2’s online mode and GTA 5 Online, Zelnick stated that entertainment is an unusual animal. Entertainment properties do not really compete with other entertainment properties. He stated that entertainment is something that consumers want to have but does not need to have. He explained that if there is nothing in the market is interesting for consumers then there is no reason for them to buy it but if multiple things appeal to people, consumers will purchase all of those things.
Zelnick says that he does not think that there is any competitive dynamic with any of their company’s upcoming releases apart from the fact that their success is driven by quality. Zelnick thinks that Red Dead Redemption 2’s success will be driven by its quality. He also stated that he thinks the ongoing success of GTA Online is drive by its exceptional quality as published by GameSpot.
