PGA Tour 2K21 Sells 2 Million Copies, Could Become 2K’s Next Sports Franchise

2K Sports launched a new franchise in 2020 with PGA Tour 2K21, and it got off to a strong start, with the publisher now suggesting it could become a franchise.

The game sold 2 million copies, which is a “fantastic result,” according to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick.

During an earnings call, Zelnick said he feels good about how PGA Tour 2K21 performed, remarking that “we’re just getting started.”

“In terms of the PGA TOUR 2K, we are incredibly excited about that the performance of that title. And I’d like to say that, that we’re not surprised. But I am personally a little bit surprised we–it’s done fantastically well, we’ve sold around 2 million units or so which is a fantastic result. And we’re just really getting started,” Zelnick said.

Zelnick confirmed that PGA Tour 2K does indeed have a future with the publisher as opposed to being a one-off release. “We haven’t really announced much about what specifically that means. But what that is out there, this is something that we feel like it merits investment from our side. And that’s something that we can really turn into very profitable and exciting franchise for us going forward for many years,” he said.

PGA Tour 2K21 not only makes money from its initial sale price, but the game is filled with extra cosmetics and other content that you can buy with real money. Microtransactions–which are called recurring consumer spending for Take-Two–are a huge part of Take-Two’s overall business strategy, so it makes sense that the publisher would have an eye toward further investing in the series.

PGA Tour 2K21 also has basically no competition in the console space, as it’s the only officially licensed mainstream golf sim out there. That might not be the case forever, as Jeff Grubb of VentureBeat has reported that EA Sports may bring back its golf franchise. Interestingly, EA CEO Andrew Wilson just announced that the company is working on additional sports games that will be revealed later.