Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has predicted that Red Dead Redemption 2 sales will hit 15-20 million worldwide.
Speaking during a chat with GamingBolt, Pachter explained that he doesn’t expect the upcoming Wild West sequel to repeat the same success as Grand Theft Auto V, as the setting of Red Dead does not facilitate the same type of gameplay experiences as Rockstar’s multi-million selling crime franchise.
“That’s a stretch, but maybe!’ he laughed. ‘I can tell you that I have pretty consistently been wrong on the Grand Theft Auto series. When GTA3 came out, I modeled 325,000 units, and I missed by only 25 million. And when GTA5 came out, I thought it would sell 35 million, so I only missed by 31 million. So, you know, who knows? It’s entirely possible that Red Dead Redemption 2 is like the movie Titanic, you know, just one of those things you don’t expect to be phenomenal, but then end up being a phenomenon.”
“I will say that you can’t dismiss the talent at Rockstar,” he continued. “They are so good. Their games are so interesting, so well crafted, so fun to play, and so beautiful, that of course there’s going to be a huge audience for this. But I think that, when you compare the gameplay and story and fan interest in a series like Red Dead, I think it’s more comparable to something like Fallout, where it’s super interesting and well done and well crafted game, but not as big as Call of Duty, for example. There’s something about GTA, where you get to be a bad boy, get to go on raids with gangs, and there’s all sorts of cool missions, and you really can’t do this as well in the older western setting. Because the weapons don’t allow it, the transportation doesn’t allow it- no helicopters or boats or cars, you have horses. So I think the appeal is less than GTA, but again, I was off by literally half for GTA sales, so, you know, I think Red Dead does between 15-20 million, and I’d be surprised if it did 40 million, but I’m sure a lot of people are thinking that. I mean, GTA5 did 66 million- and this game, it’s just highly unlikely that it’s the best selling game of all time.”
Red Dead Redemption 2 release date confirmed
Rockstar yesterday announced Red Dead Redemption 2 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One following months of rumors, confirming the action-adventure sequel will hit stores in fall 2017. Furthermore, the press release revealed that we can expect a new online companion to release alongside the game, suggesting Rockstar is following the same template as GTA V.
In addition, the developer has announced that the Red Dead Redemption 2 trailer will debut on Thursday. We’ve already embedded the trailer in our announcement article, so be sure to hit up the link and bookmark the page for when the footage drops.