GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 Remain Powerhouses Against New Releases
New releases are struggling to dethrone Rockstar classics GTA V and RDR2, which are holding strong in sales charts.
As the video game industry gears up for the holiday season, two of Rockstar's biggest titles, Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2, continue to dominate the sales charts. Despite facing off against highly anticipated releases like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, these Rockstar juggernauts still managed to hold their own and even climb the ranks in some regions.
According to the latest PlayStation sales data, GTA V climbed one spot to become the 5th most downloaded PS5 game in October. However, the game did slip one place to 8th in the North American charts, likely due to the influx of new releases. Interestingly, the game maintained its 6th place position in both the US/Canada and European PS4 charts, a clear display of its consistent appeal.
The UK physical and digital sales charts tell a similar story, with GTA 5 remaining the 7th best-selling game for the second month in a row. While the game's standalone online version fell out of the top 10, this is still an impressive feat considering the launch of major titles like the latest Call of Duty.
As for Red Dead Redemption 2, the Rockstar title also saw a boost, moving to 3rd place on the PS4 charts in the US and Canada, up from 4th the previous month. The game held steady in 5th place in Europe.
Rockstar's continued success can be attributed, in part, to their commitment to supporting their games post-launch. October saw the rollout of a highly anticipated Halloween update for GTA Online, which introduced the new Ludendorff Cemetery Survival mode.
This mode, set in the snowy town of North Yankton, drew in over 1.7 million players and over 4 million total plays. It's no wonder that both GTA V and GTA Online surpassed Take-Two's predictions, with the former selling over 205 million copies worldwide and the latter outperforming expectations.
Ironically, Rockstar's success with these games may also present a unique challenge as the company gears up for the release of GTA 6. With GTA 5 and Online regularly engaging over 20 million players monthly across all platforms, Rockstar will need to carefully manage the transition to the new title.
The fact that the PS4 remains the most popular platform for GTA Online suggests that GTA 6 and its online component may not necessarily draw away all active GTA Online players, as the upcoming title will be released only on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. It will certainly be interesting to see how Rockstar will navigate this conundrum.
