Grand Theft Auto V has been one of the best-selling video games in history since its release several years ago, and its consistent performance has continually helped support parent company Take-Two. But developer Rockstar’s next game, Red Dead Redemption 2, is scheduled for release next year, so there are concerns that it might compete with GTA V for market share and thus potentially hinder its sales or be hindered itself.
In an earnings call today, however, Take-Two expressed confidence that GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 will not cannibalize each other’s sales. In response to a question about if Take-Two thinks that Red Dead Redemption could slow down the revenue generated by GTA Online, CEO Strauss Zelnick replied that the company doesn’t view the games as competitors. Rather, the belief is that the marketplace will grow to fit both.
“When there’s more than one title in the marketplace that compels people, the market also expands to take advantage of it,” he explained. “The marketplace can be competitive, but it’s rarely directly competitive title-to-title, whether that’s a title that comes out under the Take-Two umbrella or any of our competitors or anything else for that matter.”
“We’re really looking forward to the release of Read Dead Redemption 2; we’re really excited and enthusiastic, of course,” he continued. “We don’t think that has anything to do at all with how Grand Theft Auto [V] and Grand Theft Auto Online will perform.”
He also stated that this reasoning is due to the fact that everything competes with everything else–there’s not much to indicate that two games will compete specifically with each other, more so than with every other piece of media. His explanation mirrors what he said earlier this year, too.
“All entertainment titles compete against every other possible use of your time and they don’t compete specifically against our games or anyone else’s games,” he said. “They compete against everything, against text messaging, going to movies, reading a book, doing your work. Entertainment is a ‘nice to have,’ not a ‘must have.'”
Red Dead Redemption 2 is currently scheduled for launch in Spring 2018 on PS4 and Xbox One. In other Take-Two news, the company reiterated that a new installment in one of its biggest franchises is due out during fiscal year 2019, which ends in March 2019.