Red Dead Redemption 2 was destined to sell a ton of copies. But now it holds the record for most money made by an entertainment product over a weekend. The game sold $725 million worth of copies in its first three days, only second to the $1 billion pulled in over three days by Grand Theft Auto V. However, Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive can claim an opening weekend because GTA V was released on a Tuesday whereas Red Dead Redemption 2 was released on a Friday.

The new Rockstar game also set the following records:

  • 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.

But here’s the funniest part of all of this: selling the game isn’t the big part of where Rockstar will make its money on Red Dead Redemption 2. That’s going to come when Red Dead Online launches and they can start charging microtransactions for people who want more in-game cash and other assorted items. After the success of Grand Theft Auto Online, Rockstar is clearly all-in on the “Games as a Service” model, which is fine. The market is clearly there for it, and from what I’ve seen, it doesn’t abuse the freemium model where only those with the deepest pockets can succeed in the game.

It will be interesting to see how many copies of Red Dead Redemption 2 get sold during the holiday season and to see how Red Dead Online differs from Grand Theft Auto Online.

For more on Red Dead Redemption 2, click on the links below:

red-dead-redemption-2-poster