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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 9597595" data-attributes="member: 18">I'd like to believe that, but I don't think it's quite as simple as that.Red Dead Redemption didn't do GTA numbers - it sold well and met (and arguably slightly exceeded) expectations, but that was far less than 50% of the sales of GTA 4, even when it was hot, and it dropped further behind as time went on. I wish it had - I'd argue it's actually a more important and braver game than RDR2. I would strongly suggest that had the general elements of the game remained the same quality, and the setting/genre been say, "modern spy", rather than Western, RDR1 would probably have sold more copies. (Interestingly that modern spy-based game is precisely what R* were working on, but despite spending years on it, they couldn't make it feel good, so dropped it.)RDR2 did well in part because of sheer quality, but let's be real - insane budget, huge marketing, being the sequel to a game that had sold only as expected (or so) but had a legendary reputation, and very importantly, having good timing and being pretty accessible gameplay-wise. I think that latter point is often overlooked as part of why RDR2 and the GTA games succeed - fundamentally all they are not challenging or tricky or demanding games* (at least on the critical path), nor particularly fast-paced, despite their settings. They're games someone who doesn't play games can get through. Also, and I think this is overlooked too, I think the Western genre helped it on the sales front too, because I know some people who shy away from games with "fantastical" settings who bought RDR2. Like people who normally only play sports games, maybe CoD, and other like... "normie" games - they felt safe buying a game that was a normie genre (i.e. not SF/F). I think that generation of people is kind of slowly aging out and that younger people, raised on Minecraft and Fortnite and so on don't have the same line between between "normal people stuff" and SF/F but I definitely think it was a factor here. That being a science-fiction game of the same quality and otherwise similar, it would actually have sold fewer copies (fantasy it might have sold as many or even more, but to a slightly different if significantly overlapping audience).This thread is all about zeitgeist and the reality is, genre or at least vibes do matter to whether something has the wind behind it, or against it.* = (the very few missions in GTA3, VC and SA which are an exception to this stand out as a result, but 4 and 5 managed to largely avoid such exceptions.)</blockquote>

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