Red Dead Redemption 2: Take Two CEO Calls Battle Royale Derivative

Not much is known about Red Dead Redemption 2 at this point.  Though a recent leak suggested that the game would feature a Battle Royale mode similar to something like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds or Fortnite: Battle Royale.

Today investors attempted to pry information from Take Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick regarding Battle Royale in Red Dead Redemption 2 and his answer is somewhat surprising.  When asked if Red Dead Redemption 2 would feature a Battle Royale mode, Zelnick called it derivative and that derivative games don’t seem to do as well as innovative ones.

I don’t see our labels being super excited about being derivative

“More detail on game mechanics specifics really comes at the label level, but I will just observe that someone else’s success is really interesting and we’re obviously informed by what our competitors do.  Our goal is to be as innovative as possible, said Zelnick.”  And titles, even really good titles that are derivative, never seem to do as well as innovations that are unexpected.  When we came out with the first Red Dead Redemption the convention wisdom was that Westerns don’t work.   It had been an awfully long time since a Western themed video game had come out. Rockstar took a massive creative risk and the result was extraordinary.  I don’t see our labels being super excited about being derivative.  That said, of course, we play in the world and we’re informed by what’s going on.  It is our job to bring consumers what they want.”

So is Battle Royale coming to Red Dead Redemption 2?  Zelnick’s answer to the question could be construed as both a yes and a no.  The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle and Red Dead Redemption 2 could very well feature Rockstar’s unique spin on Battle Royale instead of a carbon copy of PUBG as others have been recently doing.