Red Dead Crosses The '5 Million' Border; Should We Hope For More Delays?

It hasn't quite been a month since Rockstar's latest open-world opus, Red Dead Redemption, shipped out to stores. In fact, it's been three weeks as of yesterday. In that time, a massive marketing campaign, the magic of word-of-mouth, and maybe some unbalanced PR tactics have all contributed to a pretty astounding sales figure that has helped Take-Two turn its fiscal comparison around. Over 5 million copies of Red Dead Redemption have been sold, with its spiritual predecessor Grand Theft Auto IV recently passing the 17m mark.

Being as these figures were released on an investor earnings call, they're likely making Take-Two's partners very happy. At the same time, they may have some industry folks bewildered: certain analysts were sure that Rockstar's "most ambitious game" would be a loss-leader, requiring 4 million copies out the door before it even had a chance to break even. With yesterday's call being the first reliable report of how many games had been sold, some analysts may end up a bit more optimistic the next time they discuss Rockstar's games.

There's good news in here for gamers, as well. On the call, CEO Ben Feder noted, "our recent success with Red Dead Redemption illustrates the importance and the benefit of giving a title the time it needs in order to fulfill its potential in the marketplace." He may be referring to RDR's two delays--it was originally slated for a holiday release. Given the cohesion and believability of the world to which players have access through John Marston's eyes, however, it's obvious the delay did the game some good.

This story of success-through-polish will hopefully inspire more publishers to focus more on a game's final quality than on their quarterly bottom line. Rockstar took a risk in doing so, but it's obviously paying off. Who knows if the game they could've released last holiday would have nearly the same magic as the New Austin we're playing today? Another clear example is Batman: Arkham Asylum, which was delayed quite a few months--a delay which allowed Rocksteady to craft one of the most complete and compelling superhero games in recent memory. By contrast, however, Alpha Protocol saw multiple delays and still released as one an incredibly buggy game, perhaps to the ire of its own devs.

This is especially relevant for Take Two: Feder was reassuring folks about Max Payne 3 when he was discussing the value of delays--sadly, Max' latest adventure has been delayed to sometime between November 2010 and October 2011.

It's never easy to determine with today's publishers whether a release window should be stretched or upheld, and whether the focus is on a great experience for gamers or a satisfactory report for investors. Should we call for more games getting delayed if it means more AAA titles like Batman and Red Dead? Or--as in the case of Alpha Protocol--does the balance just require smarter moves from game directors and publishers? Weigh in with your feelings, or just tell us your favorite horse-related glitch, in the comments below!

Red Dead Redemption sells 5M, GTAIV hits 17M [GameSpot]