'Red Dead Redemption 2' news: analyst doubtful that the sequel's sales will surpass that of its predecessor

There is a certain amount of excitement surrounding the release of "Red Dead Redemption 2" for fans who had to wait seven years for the sequel to come into fruition. Apparently, Take-Two Interactive is looking at capitalizing on the said eagerness for the title as it has been recently revealed that the company is rallying behind the follow-up release for 2017. However, an analyst is trying to burst Take-Two's bubble as he reveals that there is a good chance that the rollout will not be as big in terms of sales as its predecessor.

Michael Goodman says that while the Rockstar Games sibling, "Grand Theft Auto," was able to get a significant sales increase between its fourth and fifth installments, it will be a different scenario for "Red Dead Redemption." The director of digital media strategies at Strategy Analytics shares that on top of not having that same trajectory, "Red Dead Redemption 2" might even get a drop in terms of units sold.

"The way I think about it is you'll get about 80 percent of the people who purchased the original, they'll purchase the sequel. Then you'll get about 20–30 percent of new people. That's if you do everything right. My top end would be 110 percent of original sales and that's really hard to do. Very rarely do sequels perform as well as their original," Goodman explained when We Write Things caught up with him.

"Red Dead Redemption" which hit the market in 2010 was able to sell over 14 million copies worldwide, which is what Goodman used as the baseline number in terms of the projected sales for its successor.

"If they do it right, then it'll be plus or minus that number. If they blow it, then obviously, they won't hit [14 million]. That's what I would think of in terms of what your market size is. I would be hard pressed to imagine a scenario where you're going to double what the original did," he continued to explain.

No specific official release date has been set for "Red Dead Redemption 2," but the tentative schedule is that it will see the light of day sometime between quarter 3 and quarter 4 of next year.