Red Dead Redemption 2 had the biggest opening weekend in entertainment

Never bet against Rockstar. Not content with the unbelievable success of their previous open world title, GTA V, their new open world cowboy game, Red Dead Redemption 2, has continued to break records. Red Dead Redemption 2 has achieved the amazing distinction of having the best ever opening weekend of any piece of entertainment media. Rockstar announced in a press release:

“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.”

That means that it hasn’t just beaten the opening weekends of every other video game, but also every film, TV show, music album or piece of artwork. It is estimated that over its opening weekend, it has earned its developer upwards of $AU1 billion. No doubt this figure is only likely to climb over the next few weeks.

Whilst Red Dead Redemption 2 has scored the best opening weekend in entertainment, it still comes second to GTA V when it comes to the highest grossing launch of all time. This is possible because GTA V was released on a Tuesday, and raked in over $AU1.4 billion in its first three days.

“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 fact that Red Dead Redemption 2 is only available on PS4 and Xbox One (therefore cutting out the expansive PC and Nintendo Switch markets) makes this phenomenal success even more noteworthy. There is still no official word about a future PC release. However, considering GTA V’s success on the platform, there is no reason Red Dead Redemption 2 won’t make its way there at some point.

RDR2’s success is due in no small part to its strong marketing campaign, as well as the amazing critical acclaim it received upon release. Whilst the creation of such a masterpiece came at no small cost to the developers’ personal lives, the end result is clearly paying dividends for Rockstar. No doubt that Red Dead Redemption 2 will only become more incredibly lucrative once Red Dead Online becomes available, and Rockstar begins raking in the profits from microtransactions. Perhaps one day it could potentially overtake GTA V as Rockstar’s most valuable property. However, even  without that lofty precedent, Red Dead Redemption 2 is proving to be an absolute juggernaut in sales.