'Red Dead Redemption 2' Sells 23 Million Copies to Help Take-Two Beat Projections

Meanwhile, the game's online component is off to a quicker start than its 'Grand Theft Auto' counterpart five years ago.

Yeehaw! The runaway success of Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption 2 helped boost earnings for parent company Take-Two Interactive, according to the company's latest earnings report.

The Western adventure, which was released Oct. 26, has sold 23 million copies worldwide. The success of the title isn't surprising, considering Red Dead Redemption 2 earned $725 million in its first weekend of release and was the top-selling game of 2018.

The game's online component, Red Dead Online, is also outpacing GTA Online in terms of engagement, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick said. Considering GTA Online's extremely long legs in the market (the online component of Grand Theft Auto V originally launched in October 2013 and is still a major revenue driver for the company), the early success of Red Dead Online may very well be a harbinger of thinigs to come.

Red Dead helped Take-Two's net revenue in Q3 grow to $1.2 billion, a massive increase from $480.8 million in the same quarter of 2017. Net income grew to $179.9 million, compared to $25.1 million for the same period last year. The company's expectations for net revenue totals at the end of the fiscal year on March 31 range between $2.6 billion to $2.7 billion.

It wasn't only Red Dead Redemption 2 that drove revenue, as Take-Two's 2K banner also released NBA 2K19, which was the best-selling sports game in the U.S. in 2018. Meanwhile, the port of Sid Meier's Civilization VI to the Nintendo Switch exceeded the company's expectations.

Looking ahead, Take-Two has two smaller titles from their private division (Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey and The Outer Worlds) set for release in 2019, while Rockstar's Red Dead Online and GTA Online continue to drive revenue for the company.