Red Dead Redemption 2 sells $725 million in 3 days, the best opening weekend in entertainment history

Surprise, surprise: Red Dead Redemption 2 is making Rockstar a whole lot of money. The studio announced today that sales of the Western adventure hit $725 million in its first three days, meaning it had the best opening weekend in the history of entertainment, not just video games.

That record comes with a small caveat: RDR2 released on a Friday and had the best opening weekend ever, not the best opening. The record for the best opening is still held by Rockstar's previous hit, GTA 5, which released on a Tuesday and sold $1 billion in its first three days. Which means that, overall, RDR2 had the second-best opening ever. So, you know, not bad in the end. 

RDR2 also set several sales records on PS4: most pre-ordered full game, biggest day-one full game sales, and biggest three-day full game sales on PlayStation Network. Rockstar specified PlayStation Network sales - in other words, digital sales - so the PS4 sales record that Spider-Man PS4 set last month is still in-tact. 

The nuttiest part of all this is that Red Dead Online, RDR2's multiplayer component, isn't even out yet. GTA Online turned out to be one of GTA 5's biggest earners - bringing in over $1 billion through microtransactions in around four years - and I'm willing to bet Red Dead Online will follow suit. 

As Kotaku reports, these sales are directly tied to the annual profit-sharing bonuses Rockstar employees receive, which is good to remember given the widespread reports of interminable crunch during the development of RDR2.

Here's everything you need to know about the Red Dead Online beta.  

Austin Wood

Austin freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree, and he's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize that his position as a senior writer is just a cover up for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a focus on news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.