In news that shouldn’t really be surprising to anyone, Red Dead Redemption 2 is doing pretty well for itself in the few days it’s been out.
In fact, it’s doing so well, in its opening weekend alone it made more moolah than the most successful opening weekend of any film ever, a title held by Avengers: Infinity War which took in more than $640 million in its opening weekend.
Staggeringly, the $725 million Red Dead Redemption 2 pulled in make its opening weekend the biggest opening weekend in the history of entertainment. It has beaten out every other book, film, and album launch. Take that, Tony Stark!
This news does come with something of a caveat though. While RDR2 can claim to have enjoyed the best opening weekend, it only comes second place in terms of best launches overall.
As you might expect, the record holder of best overall opening is Rockstar’s own Grand Theft Auto V, which was released on a Tuesday and made $1 billion in its first three days, meaning Red Dead Redemption 2 only managed the second best opening overall. Though I doubt the people at Rockstar are losing any sleep over it.
Still, Red Dead Redemption 2 has managed to set a number of sales records on PS4, including most pre-ordered full game, biggest day-one full game sales, and biggest three-day full game sales on PlayStation Network, as Variety reports.
It’s important to note that Red Dead Online won’t even launch for another month. Given that GTA Online turned out to be the aspect of GTA V that would continue to make crazy amounts of money, it’s safe to assume that Rockstar isn’t taking it easy just yet.
The game has been garnering rave reviews from critics and fans alike, praising RDR2 for its vast, detailed expanse, which allows for an epic 100 hours of playing time, with visually stunning graphics that easily transport the player back to the end days of the lawless west.
The immersive quality of the game means players are quite happy to explore the gorgeously imagined wilderness at their leisure, in between moments of high octane action; herding cattle and even visiting the barbers (beards actually grow in real time in this game).
Critics have also enjoyed the careful characterisation of the Van der Linde gang, whose motivations and vulnerabilities are layered into the plot with a light subtlety during campfire conversations.
The main protagonist of Arthur Morgan has proved particularly popular, with VG24/7 describing him as ‘much more fleshed out’ than Red Dead Redemption’s John Marston:
Arthur’s story is underpinned by a bittersweet irony, and it really feels like a tale of redemption this time. When the credits roll, you will appreciate Arthur as a character far more than you ever did of Red Dead protagonist John Marston.
Perhaps the next Avengers film should be released on a Tuesday, so it doesn’t have to compete with the stonking success of the next Rockstar game…
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via stories@unilad.co.uk
Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.