Rockstar Games announces first new game in Five Years

18 Oct, 2016

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The creators of the Grand Theft Auto game series has announced its first new game in five years. Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO) is the developer’s parent company and the announcement has investors on the edge of their seats.

A two day tease campaign on Twitter, Rockstar revealed “Red Dead Redemption 2” Tuesday. Sequel to the fast selling 2010 shooter set in in the old West. Trailer is due to be released on Thursday October 20^th.

Share value of Take-Two spiked Monday morning during pre-market trading as Rockstar initiated its Twitter tease. The teaser campaign pushed share value up almost 6 percent from market close Friday afternoon.

Red Dead Redemption 2 will be release fall 2017 for Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One gaming consoles. At the moment, Rockstar games has not announced a PC version of the game.

“With ‘Red Dead Redemption 2,’ the team is working hard to push forward our vision for interactive entertainment in a truly living world,” said Sam Houser, founder of Rockstar Games. “We hope to deliver players an epic experience that builds upon everything we’ve learned making games.”

Sales Expectancies

Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities expects the game to sell 10 million copies to retailers in Q1. Sales are to be reflected in quite a few earnings releases short term. Ben Schachter of Macquarie Securities expect 12 million units to sell in the first quarter.

“There could be additional releases alongside the game, such as a reissue of the old game (now backwards compatible on Xbox One) and a possible VR experience on Playstation VR,” he said. “We also expect the game to have features similar to ‘GTA Online,’ which has been positive for monetizing ‘GTA V’ three years beyond its release.”

Pachter has announced that features similar to “GTA Online” could add $250 million per year for serveral years to come and Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick declared that the online portion of the game could be “a watershed moment for our company”.

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