RDR2 Sells 85 Million, Best Year Since 2018 Launch

"Thank you, what an honor, it's the fans that keep it going." That was Roger Clark's response on X after learning that Red Dead Redemption 2 just crossed 85 million copies sold, making it the third best-selling game of all time. The man who voiced Arthur Morgan kept it brief, but the number speaks volumes on its own.

The figure comes from Take-Two Interactive's Q4 and full-year earnings report, posted yesterday. According to the company, RDR2 didn't just hit the 85 million milestone; it did so on the back of its best 12-month sales period since its launch year in 2018. An eight-year-old single-player game, running at 30fps on modern consoles with no major updates, outsold itself in every year except the one it came out. I don't know how you explain that without acknowledging that Rockstar built something that transcends the usual shelf life of a video game.

That sales surge pushes Red Dead Redemption 2 past Wii Sports on the all-time chart, as spotted by IGN. Only Tetris, Minecraft, and Grand Theft Auto 5 sit above it now. GTA 5 itself is up to roughly 230 million copies, so the gap between Rockstar's two flagships is still enormous, but 85 million for a game that never got a proper next-gen upgrade is a staggering result.

Still 30fps in 2026

Which makes Rockstar's continued refusal to release a 60fps patch for PS5 and Xbox Series X all the more confusing. Fans have been asking for years. Rumors of an upgrade have circulated and gone nowhere. The game is selling better now than it has in seven years, and it's still locked to the same performance profile it shipped with on base PS4 hardware. If there was ever a commercial justification for a current-gen patch, 85 million copies and a record sales year would be it. I can't figure out what Rockstar is waiting for.

The earnings report also confirmed what everyone expected: Take-Two's next fiscal year is built around GTA 6, still locked in for its November 19 release. Beyond that, the company listed six other titles for the year, none of which are Judas or BioShock 4. Red Dead Redemption 3 wasn't mentioned either, though Clark recently told Fall Damage that he suspects it will be a "long time" before the series returns. He joked that RDR3 is coming out "tomorrow after lunchtime," then got more candid, saying he has no idea if Arthur Morgan would feature but that he'd answer the phone if Rockstar called.

Take-Two's full-year net bookings hit $6.72 billion, up 19 percent year-over-year, with the company projecting $8 billion to $8.2 billion for the coming fiscal year on the strength of GTA 6. Red Dead Redemption 2 pulling record numbers right now is a convenient bonus for a publisher about to bet everything on one release. It also suggests something I think gets overlooked: RDR2's audience is still growing. New players are still discovering it through word of mouth, mods, and a community that refuses to let the game fade. Clark was right to credit the fans. An OpenCritic score of 95 gets people in the door, but it doesn't keep a game selling at record pace nearly a decade later without a playerbase that treats it like a living world rather than a finished product.