Red Dead Redemption 2 Publishers Discuss Fortnite’s Massive Success

In just a matter of months, Epic Games’ Fortnite has become one of the most popular games out there — if not the most popular. But it leaves us wondering if there’s room for competition down the road with everyone from Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 to Battlefield V including Battle Royale modes.

But there’s also Red Dead Redemption 2 to consider as Rockstar Games‘ forthcoming sequel could be including a similar mode all its own. The publisher didn’t confirm that yet but that didn’t stop Take-Two from discussing how they need to “innovate” with its own titles.

During an earnings call this past week, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick explained that while even though Fortnite is doing great things, you don’t necessarily lead the industry by following a popular example.

“I think if one changed one’s business to follow other people’s big hits, you’d be constantly playing catch up,” Zelnick explained. “And to say you wouldn’t be in second place is an understatement. You might remain in last place. So it’s our job to innovate, and more often than not that has driven our success.”

He didn’t have anything to say about Red Dead‘s proposed Battle Royale mode but did note that he prefers the studios to work towards new ideas instead of “derivative” ones.

Granted, that hasn’t stopped the publisher from trying out Battle Royale. Grand Theft Auto V did just get a new Trapdoor mode that plays around with the idea, pitting players against one another in an open world. And who knows? That could just be the beginning.

Zelnick then broke down what Take-Two could learn from Fortnite. “Maybe the biggest learning is just the reinforcement of the fact that big hits by their very nature are unexpected. What drives a big hit is innovation not derivation,” he said. “That’s what we’re proud of around here. When we put out Red Dead Redemption, the conventional wisdom was that western titles do not work in the video game business — and Red Dead Redemption was a big hit and we have extremely high expectations for Red Dead Redemption 2.

“So I think the fact that Fortnite surprised everyone, particularly given where Fortnite came from–after all, what is now in the market is based on a prior release that did not perform all that well. It’s just a reflection of the fact that if you innovate and give consumers what they want, you can get an extraordinary result. And while we would love to corner the market in hits, and we certainly see it as our job to do so, we don’t have all of the hits and we shouldn’t expect to.”

Does that mean Red Dead will be getting Battle Royale or not? It’s too soon to tell — but E3 is just around the corner and the game could be getting a new trailer to fill us in.

Fortnite is available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. Meanwhile, Red Dead Redemption 2 will release on October 26 for Xbox One and PlayStation 4.