Yesterday, Take-Two revealed that its new Rockstar IP Red Dead Redemption had sold-in to retailers 5 million units globally since launching on May 18. Prior to the game's release, some analysts were skeptical that a Western-themed title could be a breakout success, but Red Dead is proving to be a blockbuster in every sense of the word.
It seems the game is just what publisher Take-Two needed. The company has often been labeled as nothing more than a GTA publisher, but Red Dead now gives Take-Two another solid IP to lean on. Mike Hickey of Janco Partners commented that Red Dead is "significantly exceeding our expectations and demonstrating the creative genius layered deeply within the Rockstar studio structure. We believe the franchise can be successfully iterated every several years and offers the Company a new mega franchise."
Indeed, Red Dead's success could allow Take-Two to actually post a profitable non-GTA year, commented Ben Schachter of Broadpoint AmTech. "While 2Q was challenging (BioShock 2 under-delivered and capitalized expenses grew), TTWO’s guidance for the year reflects a big win with Red Dead Redemption. The title has shipped over five million units and will be profitable (despite very high development costs). Based in large part on Red Dead’s success, we believe that TTWO will be profitable for the year when adjusting for the baseball deal. This is a major step forward in our opinion, as TTWO’s Achilles heel has long been its inability to generate profits in non-GTA year," he said.
5 Comments
June 10, 2010
Why wouldn't analysts just keep up with what they do best, ie quantitative judgment and deductions, and stay away from qualitative and subjective statements once and for all? RDR is far from being a new franchise. It pertains to the "GTA IV" family. There won't be any direct sequel, with cow boys and horses... Merely a different timeline and story, still using the GTA IV engine and savoir faire (which would be awesome btw, like London or Chicago 1930's for instance), think Agent or LA Noire, definitely not some sort of nonsensical "Red Dead Redemption : Ohio" or something. Geez!
June 20, 2010
I thonk that came needs to be reinspired by freelance writers, who can make flower, from old wreck
June 22, 2010
Yeah, I think the market is not recognizing the value of this new franchise. I suspect it is because the official guidance from TTWO is overly-pessimistic. Either TTWO has stacked up lots of charges for the upcoming quarter results or they are really really low-balling their projections for the quarter.
June 22, 2010
Minbad, why in the world would you think that they would NOT release another western sequel to RDR? Of course they will! Do you think Nintendo will stop making Mario games too?
July 27, 2010
I think the game must have some cheap resumes from gta