Red Dead Redemption sells loads

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 2 September, 2010

Take-Two "has strongest IP portfolio in biz".

Open world cowboy game Red Dead Redemption has "sold in" over 6.9 million units worldwide, Take-Two has revealed.

The Rockstar Games title, which launched on 18th May, was "the key factor" in a strong quarter for the US company.

Strong sales of Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City, Grand Theft Auto IV, NBA 2K10 and Borderlands also helped.

GTA Chinatown Wars, due out in HD on the iPad in November, "sold in" more than 2.2 million units worldwide.

Net revenue for the third quarter ending 31st July was $354.1 million, a sharp increase compared to the $94.9 million reported for the same quarter of fiscal 2009.

It all made for a $12.4 million third quarter profit.

"We now expect to achieve one of the paramount goals this management team set on day one: to operate the company profitably in a year without a new Grand Theft Auto release, said Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick in a conference call.

"This will mark the first time in nearly a decade the company has been able to accomplish that goal. We've always believed this was an achievable objective for Take-Two, and through the hard work of all of our colleagues, we're poised to reach that milestone.

"We're well on the way to creating a new Take-Two, one that can deliver performance from a diverse portfolio of world class titles.

"While there's understandably strong interest in the timing of our next Grand Theft Auto title, we've shown that our business is about much more than that iconic brand.

"In addition to our Grand Theft Auto franchise, the industry standard bearer, our portfolio now includes Red Dead Redemption, BioShock, Borderlands, NBA 2K, Midnight Club, Sid Meier's Civilisation and Carnival Games.

"We believe that Take-Two now has the strongest intellectual property portfolio in the business, and that portfolio translates into profits."

The company expects Mafia II, released last week, to be profitable, comments that fly in the face of analyst Michael Pachter, who predicted otherwise. New downloadable content packs for BioShock 2 and Borderlands should also ensure healthy numbers, Take-Two said.

The publisher will also release Red Dead Redemption in Japan, where it expects big numbers.

Who needs Grand Theft Auto V?

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (25) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Haloboy #1 1 year ago

    PC version announcement soon or you die at dawn.

  • Trigga_Tybalt #2 1 year ago

    one of the few companies that deserves ever dollar they make.

  • Golgo #3 1 year ago

    blessed be the accountants...

  • NimbusTLD #4 1 year ago

    Soooo... "sold in" = shipped right?

  • bad09 #5 1 year ago

    Right that's the consoles done Rockstar, where's my PC version?

  • Vyggo #6 1 year ago

    They have the new civilisation as well? They could be right about having the strongest IP's in the industry.

  • Tomo #7 1 year ago

    Lot of stonkingly good games there. Props.

    I'm glad the Chinatown Wars figures are pretty good too. Seem to remember the DS sales being disappointingly low. They've pimped it out pretty much everywhere though which was a good move.

  • Malek86 #8 1 year ago

    I remember when Rockstar said they didn't expect to make any profits off this game. Hilarious.

  • WJF #9 1 year ago

    'GTA Chinatown Wars, due out in HD on the iPad in November'

    Not sure where you're getting that from, considering Rockstar announced it would be out next week and all yesterday - http://ww w.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-0...

  • Ashcroft #10 1 year ago

    Capcom must be kicking themselves.

  • whoyouknow #11 1 year ago

    Yeah, you know why their IP catalogue is so strong? Because when they make money on a title, that isn't the green light to start rushing out yearly iterations with minimal changes. That's why Grand Theft Auto holds its reputation, Red Dead is going to be a hit for years to come, and nobody likes Tony Hawk or Guitar Hero any more.

  • Zaiz #12 1 year ago

    Take-Two has barely any IP, though. >.> I dunno if it can have the strongest when Blizzard is around.

  • metallicorphan #13 1 year ago

    'The publisher will also release Red Dead Redemption in Japan, where it expects big numbers. '

    that would actually surprise me if it was successful over there,they seem to like the more quirky games


    Red Dead when it goes to the Classics/Platinum range will prolly sell another shitload

  • spekkeh #14 1 year ago

    "We believe that Take-Two now has the strongest intellectual property portfolio in the business

    Because everybody knows Carnival Games > Zelda. (who in their right mind would think they have a stronger portfolio than Nintendo?)

    Anyway, I quite liked RDR. Even though there were some (overly long) moments of tedium I had to plough through, I actually finished the game.. which isn't true for, erm, all the GTA games. I just hope that for GTAV they finally start innovating the game structure or it will have been my last sandbox game by R*.

  • dingo75 #15 1 year ago

    Red Dead when it goes to the Classics/Platinum range will prolly sell another shitload

    Yup one to me.
    GoW III will also be mine once it hit Classics. :)

  • Lee_Morris #16 1 year ago

    EA with Fifa and Madden, to name but two, say hi.

  • siro #17 1 year ago

    I take GTA V! Before GTA 4, I wasn' t much of a fan of the franchise, but now it's the only retail game I would buy day one.

    Also: "Sid Meier's Civilization"

  • iamian #18 1 year ago

    Maybe not the strongest but all the other companies quoted here aren't really innovating with their IP. The list Take-Two have is all relatively new and if they continue to expand as they currently are then it might not be long until that statement is true.
    RDR (in my eyes) is one of the best new titles out there at the moment.

  • The_Pope #19 1 year ago

    Am I the only one unimpressed by a 3.5% margin? $12.4m doesn't seem like a whole lot of net profit from $400m of revenue...

  • spekkeh #20 1 year ago

    I take GTA V! Before GTA 4, I wasn' t much of a fan of the franchise, but now it's the only retail game I would buy day one.

    That's weird, 4 is almost exactly the same as the previous 3 iterations.

  • chrisjm #21 1 year ago

    'Am I the only one unimpressed by a 3.5% margin? $12.4m doesn't seem like a whole lot of net profit from $400m of revenue... '

    depends. if they have had any big one of costs like acquisitions or debt repayment then its pretty good.

  • terminalterror #22 1 year ago

    'Am I the only one unimpressed by a 3.5% margin? $12.4m doesn't seem like a whole lot of net profit from $400m of revenue... '

    depends. if they have had any big one of costs like acquisitions or debt repayment then its pretty good.

    Similarly, if they are investing loads in future titles (i.e. GTA5, Bioshock Infinite etc.) then that'll sap the profits now, but pay off later.

  • I\'mListening #23 1 year ago

    Some clever wording going on here...While they may be profitable this year without the release of a NEW Grand Theft Auto, they have been helped by Episodes of Liberty City and Chinatown Wars

  • Phantom_Dynamite #24 1 year ago

    Why not do some proper episodic content then and not some piss poor DLC.

  • trip919 #25 1 year ago

    Well deserved I feel. Great game.