Red Dead Redemption 2's Delay, Explained

Earlier this week, Rockstar Games announced that it had delayed the highly anticipated Red Dead Redemption 2 from Fall 2017 to Spring 2018. Now, the executive of Rockstar's parent company has shed new light on the delay and why in the end it's in the best interest of the game.

"The purpose of the delay for Red Dead Redemption 2 is to make sure we deliver the most extraordinary we're capable of providing," Strauss Zelnick said during an earnings call today.

An analyst asked Zelnick if there was a specific category that the delay would fall under. Was it the result of a specific issue with the game? That's not the case. Instead, Rockstar is pushing the game out further so it can give the team more time to realize its vision for the title, which is the first that Rockstar has made for the ground up for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

"We have not run into particular issues," Zelnick said. "We are building a new game from the ground up for the first time for new-generation consoles. And the pressure that we put on ourselves to deliver excellence and to delight consumers is extraordinary.

"We want to make sure that the appropriate time is taken to do the very best job we can and I that's what consumers expect of Rockstar games and that's what Rockstar games typically delivers. So we support emphatically the label's decision and we are utterly confident that it will prove in time to be wise first and foremost creatively and artistically, economically as well."

Also during the call, Zelnick said it's an "extraordinary understatement" to say that Take-Two is highly confident in Red Dead Redemption 2's ability to appeal to a wide audience. But at the same time, he acknowledged that it's not in his nature to claim victory before it occurs.

Red Dead Redemption 2 will launch during Take-Two's fiscal year 2019, which means it will arrive sometime between April 2018 and March 2019.

The news of Red Dead Redemption 2's delay yesterday caused the company's share price to plunge in after-hours trading. However, it's performed strongly today, briefly reaching a new all-time high of $76.70. It stands at $73.18 as of this writing in after-hours trading.