‘Red Dead Redemption 2’ Release No Sooner Than April 2018, May Be Joined By ‘Borderlands 3’ Next Year

Rockstar Games announced yesterday that Red Dead Redemption 2 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One suffered a delay to spring 2018. Publisher Take-Two Interactive narrowed the potential release window down some more with a financial earnings release Tuesday and dropped a hint that Borderlands 3 may be coming in 2018 as well.

When the Red Dead Redemption 2 delay was revealed, Rockstar Games gave a broader spring 2018 release, which left open the possibility that it could be released before the end of Take-Two’s fiscal year on March 31. However, the publisher made clear in its financial press release that the PS4 and Xbox One open-world western will be released in its 2019 fiscal year starting April 1, 2018. This puts the potential release between then and June 20.

Here is Take-Two’s statement on the delay.

“As announced yesterday, Rockstar Games has decided to move the release of Red Dead Redemption 2 to Spring 2018. As Rockstar stated, Red Dead Redemption 2 will be their first game created from the ground up for the latest generation of console hardware, and some extra time is necessary to ensure that they deliver the best experience possible. Such decisions are not made lightly, and are driven by our team’s unwavering commitment to unparalleled quality.”

The decision to allow Rockstar’s western to slip into the next fiscal year is not to be taken lightly as that is an enormous impact to Take-Two’s potential revenue for the 2018 fiscal year that started this past April 1. Fans have been salivating over a potential sequel for years, and the teaser trailer and yesterday’s screenshots are early signals of another huge hit from the developer.

Take-Two Interactive is still confident that it will bring in enough money necessary to satisfy stockholders for the current fiscal year. However, Red Dead Redemption 2 slipping to the following fiscal year means a potential windfall when joined by another franchise from the publisher’s stable of games.

“We still expect fiscal 2018 to be a year of strong earnings and cash provided by operating activities for Take-Two, despite an unusually light release slate, driven by new releases of NBA 2K and WWE 2K, our robust catalog led by Grand Theft Auto, and innovative offerings designed to drive engagement and recurrent consumer spending. Looking ahead to fiscal 2019, we expect to deliver both record Net Sales and record net cash provided by operating activities, in excess of $2.5 billion and $700 million, respectively, led by the launches of Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2 and a highly anticipated new title from one of 2K’s biggest franchises.”

2K Games have a laundry list of franchises available to them. However, the two that are still active and have not had recent releases are the Borderlands and BioShock franchises. Of those two, Borderlands 3 is confirmed to be in development as confirmed by developer Gearbox Software last year. Additionally, an Unreal Engine 4 tech demo shown off by Gearbox at GDC this past March also appeared to include assets from the Borderlands franchise, indicating development has been moving along.

This makes a likely release date for Borderlands 3 would be in fall of 2018. However, it could just as easily release in March 2019 to give it some room away from the crowded holiday release schedule. It also gives Gearbox a chance to redeem itself following the commercial failure of Battleborn.

What do you think of the wait for Red Dead Redemption 2 to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One sometime between April and June of next year, plus the potential release of Borderlands 3 for both console platforms and PC either in fall 2018 or early 2019? Sound off in the comments below.

[Featured Image by Rockstar Games]