Can Red Dead Redemption 2 or GTA 6 follow the success of GTA 5? Probably not, says an expert.
The Grand Theft Auto series has been around for many years – the first installment was released in 1997. When a title is so successful, the developer likes to build on that series. New games are released that continually try to outdo the older installment.
GTA 5 is the most successful entry in the series and is expected by experts to remain Rockstar’s most successful title. New entries in the series or anticipated sequels to other games like Red Dead Redemption won’t change that.
GTA 5 is a massive commercial hit
Over 90 million sales make Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto V one of the commercially most successful video games in history.
The Rockstar studio is part of Take-Two – whose investors are already looking forward to even bigger hits.
Next up for Rockstar Games is Red Dead Redemption 2. After delays, it is finally set to appear in October 2018 for PS4 and Xbox One. Considering the excited atmosphere in the gaming community, the Western title is expected to be a big commercial success. But not as successful as GTA 5, says Cowen & Company analyst Doug Creutz.
In an interview with Marketwatch, he explains that he does not mean to say that Rockstar will never achieve another major hit. However, he believes that the success will not reach the heights of GTA 5. “Michael Jackson had many hit albums, but only one ‘Thriller,'” he adds.
Outlier – GTA 5 as a commercial success
Creutz says he finds that GTA 5 is a wild outlier in terms of video game sales.
This statement is based on a report from Marketwatch, which claims that GTA 5 alone has generated six billion dollars. Such amounts are not reached even by the Mario games or the Sci-Fi film Avatar.
Grand Theft Auto V was released in 2013 for the then-current console generation Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Later, it followed on PC and on the new consoles Xbox One and PlayStation 4. This resulted in many millions of players already being equipped with consoles at launch. And those who bought the new generation also had the chance to play GTA 5 on the new-gen. This greatly aided the sales of GTA 5.
Comparing this release strategy with Red Dead Redemption 2 reveals a massive gap. The new installment of the Western game is set to be released only on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in October 2018. It is likely to sell very successfully there, but the PC market will be completely absent.
So far, there has been no official news about GTA 6. Rumors say that Grand Theft Auto VI will be released in 2022 with a female protagonist and will take place in Vice City.
The gaming community expects great successes from Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA 6, even if they are not as great as the one from GTA 5.
Future titles could still be worthwhile for Rockstar, even if not as many people play them as with GTA. Because microtransactions are a field that publisher Take-Two can continue to expand.
