Well deserved. One of the most impeccably crafted games ever. Specific elements of the gameplay may not appeal to everyone, but there's more detail in GTA V than any other game,
ever, and the work that went into it from the developers, artists, and designers, is unparalleled.
Rockstar deserves all the money for this game. If Rockstar wants more money, they can release a 15-hour DLC pack in the same map and it'll sell bonkers.
Also, obligatory: GTA Online is a terrible mess.
Wonder what kind of numbers RDR2 hits.
If it gets 1/10 as much as GTA V it'll still be a runaway success. GTAV is certainly bolstered, too, in that it was released on two generations of consoles. Though, the re-release was not just a haphazard high texture upgrade, the changes to the game (First person mode, the thousands of new animations, new missions, director mode, etc) made it feel incredibly fresh.
Maybe somebody can explain this, but why does Rockstar need Take Two? Every time I even see that they have a publisher like that I think: this is the biggest game brand in the world and doesn't need some middle man to push it.
Am I crazy? Couldn't Rockstar literally purchase an entire new office of people to handle all publishing duties themselves? I must be missing something.
They could, but they'd have to sue Take2 to break out of it. There's also a lot of benefits that being owned by a billion-dollar publisher helps with, especially when it comes to managing international publishing, attorneys, contracts, and other mintutae that can bury teams focused on development. You can be a good manager of a huge development team, but a terrible sales/legal/HR/coordinating manager.