Over the weekend, Rockstar began teasing what is widely presumed to be a new game in the Red Dead series. Following the markets opening today, Rockstar parent company Take-Two is now enjoying a solid bump to its stock price.
As of this writing, Take-Two shares sit at $45.49. That's up $2.81, or 6.57 percent, from where it was at market close on Friday, before the teases began.
It would be one thing if this were happening in the wake of an actual announcement, but keep in mind this bump appears to be in response to Rockstar tweeting out two images--one of which was merely its logo on a red background.
Take-Two has indicated to investors previously that it intends to continue the Red Dead series; CEO Strauss Zelnick said in 2014, "It seems quite obvious that Red Dead is a permanent franchise." That came as no surprise considering 2010's Red Dead Redemption, the franchise's second game (and first real breakout title), had sold 13 million units as of 2012.
That said, while some are hoping Rockstar reveals a new Red Dead and then launches it soon after (much like Bethesda with Fallout 4), we already know a new game from it is unlikely to launch before at least April 2017.
Take-Two said in May that Rockstar is working on new games and would announce some of them "soon." However, it also indicated a release during this fiscal year was unlikely. For the year ending March 31, 2017, Take-Two said it expects a 75/25 revenue split between 2K Games and Rockstar and forecasted net revenue to be in the $1.5 to $1.6 billion range. None of that points toward a major release from Rockstar.
Grand Theft Auto V, Rockstar's last release, was revealed in October 2011 but wouldn't be released until almost two years later, in September 2013. Prior to that, many of Rockstar's releases came in the April/May window--during a three-year span, it dominated that part of the year with the releases of Red Dead Redemption, LA Noire, and Max Payne 3. Since then, the company hasn't launched many titles, but it's possible a new Red Dead could be coming then.
Red Dead Redemption became playable on Xbox One earlier this year through backwards compatibility, while predecessor Red Dead Revolver was released on PS4 just recently. Rumors have persisted for years about the possibility of a Red Dead game being ported to PC, but that still has yet to happen.