Publisher Take-Two Interactive revealed in its recent earnings call that the unstoppable Grand Theft Auto V has now sold over 140 million copies and Red Dead Redemption 2 has sold over 36 million. In fact, more copies of GTA V were sold during 2020 than any other year since 2013, when the title first launched for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
These record-breaking figures are all thanks to GTA Online and Red Dead Online. Take-Two revealed that GTA Online set new benchmarks for engagement levels during 2020 – a year marked by a surge in online gaming due to the pandemic forcing people indoors. Developer Rockstar Games plans to continue releasing content for both titles, and Take-Two expects engagement levels to continue to rise.
Interestingly, when one investor asked whether Take-Two had considered remastering older GTA games for those who’ve never played one prior to GTA V/Online, Chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick appeared to dodge the question and batted it into Rockstar’s court.
“I’d say it’s a great and encouraging question,” said Zelnick. “I’m kind of inclined to leave it more as a statement than a question. And any updates on our release schedule will come from Rockstar Games.”
Take-Two said that it still has plans for 93 new releases in the next five years. Whether those include any remasters or not remains to be seen.
“In the next five years, we expect to bring 93 new releases to market which is more than double what our development capacity was just a few years ago,” Zelnick continued. “So we’re both excited by the continued growing engagement in our existing entities as well as what the future can bring with new releases.”
[Source: SeekingAlpha]
