Consider it a rumor no more — bringing an end to a series of enticing Tweets, Red Dead Redemption 2 is out in the open as of this morning, when Rockstar Games slated the Western sequel for release across PS4 and Xbox One late next year.
It’ll come packing a “brand new online multiplayer experience” as well, and thanks to the overwhelmingly positive response to Rockstar’s reveal, industry analysts now claim RDR2 is on course to sell between 12 and 15 million copies in the fall quarter. The first, slightly more conservative estimation hails from Macquarie Securities analyst Ben Schachter, who pointed to the remarkable pent-up demand across social channels.
“Notably, in its first hour, the announcement received 54K likes and 61K retweets on Twitter, 152K likes and 52K comments on Facebook, and 65K likes on Instagram,” Schachter said. “We think this demonstrates significant pent-up demand and interest for the sequel.”
This, coupled with a potentially evergreen multiplayer component in the vein of Grand Theft Auto Online, led Schachter to predict that Red Dead Redemption 2 will comfortably outsell its predecessor, which garnered 14 million sales in the space of five years.
Another report relayed by GameSpot has research firm Cowen & Company estimating that RDR2 could make an even bigger splash, possibly breaking past 15 million units due to the “increased concentration of unit sales in top titles since Red Dead Redemption’s release in 2010.”
At the time of writing, Red Dead Redemption 2 has been locked in for both PS4 and Xbox One, with the first trailer due to make its way online on Thursday, October 20. We’ll have it for you right here the moment it becomes available.
[Sources: GamesIndustry.biz, GameSpot]
