Video game fans are still digging into the blockbuster Red Dead Redemption 2 just a few days after its Friday release. That’s because it’s a huge game, but also because as it turns out, the reviews for the Rockstar vehicle are extremely positive.
It helps that the game seems to have an endless amount of things to do in it, including horse collisions and plenty of good dog pets.That’s good news for the millions of people who preordered or purchased the game in its opening days. Yes, millions.
The release of Red Dead Redemption 2, a Wild West video game with some extremely impressive cinematic moments and movie-quality dialogue and voice acting, is making money on the scale of a blockbuster movie release. In just three days, Rockstar Games racked up more than $725 million in worldwide sales.
According to Variety, that opening beats the highest-grossing movie in history: Avengers: Infinity Wars.
That tops the highest-grossing movie in history, “Avengers: Infinity Wars,” which earned more than $640 million during its opening weekend earlier this year. But “Red Dead Redemption 2” still isn’t the highest grossing entertainment launch of all time. That honor also goes to Rockstar Games for “Grand Theft Auto V,” which earned more than $1 billion in sell-through in its first three days. Because “Grand Theft Auto V” launched on a Tuesday, it left the door open for “Red Dead Redemption 2’s” — which launched on a Friday — record-setting weekend.
Rockstar also reports that according to Sony Interactive Entertainment, “Red Dead Redemption 2” set records for highest ever pre-orders, highest day one sales and highest sales for the first three days in market on the PlayStation Network.
It’s even harder to compare a video game release to a big-budget movie for a number of reasons. For one, this is at least $60 per title spent by gamers for the base edition of the game. It’s hardly an IMAX or 3-D movie going up against a movie from the 80s as well. Even the most expensive movies these days pale in comparison to the cost of a major video game release. This isn’t an indie game a single developer put together, this is thousands upon thousands of man hours developing an epic title.
Then again, a video game is providing a lot more hours of entertainment than the latest Marvel flick, even if you stay through the end credits and see the teasers for the next film. But even so, it’s a huge number for any entertainment entity to put up in an ever-crowded market. Thankfully for critics, it’s also a rare occasion the masses are actually in on an acclaimed piece of entertainment, too.