A hell of a year
Rockstar has had a hell of a year, and it owes everything to just two projects: Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2.
The one-two punch of a killer online component for the former and a strong solo campaign for the latter have proven to be quite the combo, as the two have reached a combined 150 million sold across all platforms. Now GTA V is doing most of the heavy-lifting there with over 115 million sold (and counting, as of last November), but it’s still an amazing milestone nonetheless for two very similar open-world-with-online-modes titles.
Rockstar also says that December 2019 was “the largest month ever in terms of player numbers” for GTA Online, thanks to the popularity of the Diamond Casino Resort and Heist updates. GTA Online kicked off in October of 2013, for reference. The publisher also notes that 2019 was the “biggest year ever” for YouTube views for the game, with “a new record for engagements via likes and comments” for the week ending on January 12, 2020. In other words: it’s still very much in the gaming zeitgeist nearly seven years later.
Similar praises are sung for the lesser-loved Red Dead Online, which “reached peak player numbers in December” after the rather large Moonshiners update, with another increase in January of 2020. As a result of all of this fanfare, Rockstar is giving away $2,000,000 in GTA Online bonus cash by playing before February 5 (which grants you half of that amount): you can get the other half by playing between February 6 and February 12 of this year.
Red Dead Online is also gifting players a gunslinger’s cache (a free Schofield Revolver, a free Varmint Rifle and the Devastating Ammo Bundle, which includes 100x Split Point Revolver Ammo, 100x High Velocity Pistol Ammo, 100x Express Repeater Ammo, 100x Slug Shotgun Ammo, and 20x Explosive Rifle Ammo) for playing between January 28 and February 3, with a bounty hunter’s kit reward (a free Bounty Hunter license, 25x Bolas, and 25x Tracking Arrows.) for February 4 through February 10 logins.
Most of that means nothing to people who don’t play those games, but one point is probably clear by now: Rockstar is making money hand over fist supporting a game that’s nearly a decade old.
Record-breaking holiday season [Rockstar]
