Red Dead Redemption 2 is set to release not long from now, and it may be one of the most anticipated games of the year. During their financial conference call for investors and analysts, Rockstar’s parent company Take-Two Interactive Entertainment’s President Karl Slatoff and Chief Executive Officer Strauss Zelnick discussed the upcoming release of the game, and what they expect out of it.
Given that Rockstar Games’ titles are some of the most successful titles out there, you may think that they don’t have to worry about competition. However, Zelnick stated that they do take the competition seriously, especially since the game is set to release during the crowded Holiday season. He stated, “We’re always worried about the competition and never take anything for granted, never claim success early. We do our best to create phenomenal entertainment and market it effectively, and then we explain what happened. We have enormously high expectations for October with the launch of Red Dead Redemption 2. We take the competition seriously and we’re really exited about the release. I would just note, you don’t need to look back too many years when Holiday seasons were just inundated. People basically released products in the Holiday season and this company performed well. So it all comes down to quality.”
That’s a good attitude to have. Analysts, for instance, have been predicting that Red Dead Redemption 2 might face some tough competition from other major games releasing during the year’s closing months. Rockstar, though, has some cross-promotion planned to get fans excited for the release of their upcoming game. Zelnick commented on this by saying, “Rockstar Games has employed some creative techniques in cross-promotion. I think they’re pretty exciting. Social Club has an awful lot of members and they’re avid fans not just of Grand Theft Auto, not just of Red Dead Redemption, but also fans of Rockstar Games. I think it’s great that there is some cross-promotion going on.”
Karl Slatoff also stated that the game will feature an “all new online experience”, but he didn’t provide any details. We know that the possibility of Battle Royale mode hasn’t been ruled out yet, so we’ll just have to wait and see. Zelnick also went on to talk about how they expect the game to perform, and it looks like all that can be said is that the game will exceed expectations in every way possible, at least based on what he said. Zelnick stated, “My view is that by their very nature hits are unexpected. That’s the goal. There is an expectation around the table. Of course, there is an expectation of Rockstar Games and there is an expectation on part of consumers, but our job is to exceed those expectations, and fingers crossed, that’s what we’re all setting out to do. We couldn’t predict and we didn’t presume to in regards to Grand Theft Auto V, and we wouldn’t presume to with Red Read Redemption 2. So we’re just hard at work, doing the very best job that we can.”
Red Dead Redemption 2 is set to release for the PS4 and Xbox One on October 26.