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Gears 5’s abysmal Steam debut could tell us something about the potential audience for Xbox exclusives on Steam

Poordevil

Member
Peeps are saying that Gears was never a PC game. Gears of War was released on PC. I played it on PC and loved it. Still have the game, game disc, DVD case and manual. Problem was the game was pirated so bad that CliffyB told the PC community to pound sand and that Gears 2 would not be released on PC. Anyway that is the scuttlebutt heard hanging out on the Epic game forums back in the day. Back then Epic was a PC developer. Unreal, Unreal Tournament. It was UT that put those guys on the map, made CliffyB and Tim Sweeney rich and famous. I tried playing Gears 2 on the Xbox, but after getting so used to playing Gears with the K/B and mouse, I just couldn't get with that Xbox controller.
 
Peeps are saying that Gears was never a PC game. Gears of War was released on PC. I played it on PC and loved it. Still have the game, game disc, DVD case and manual. Problem was the game was pirated so bad that CliffyB told the PC community to pound sand and that Gears 2 would not be released on PC. Anyway that is the scuttlebutt heard hanging out on the Epic game forums back in the day. Back then Epic was a PC developer. Unreal, Unreal Tournament. It was UT that put those guys on the map, made CliffyB and Tim Sweeney rich and famous. I tried playing Gears 2 on the Xbox, but after getting so used to playing Gears with the K/B and mouse, I just couldn't get with that Xbox controller.

Yeah, PC gaming community is often its own worst enemy. Though to be fair Steam has combated pirating by simply being cheap and convenient, this is exactly what they argued is the solution and it does work, many pirates will buy the game off Steam since they feel it's fairly priced and convenient enough. You might say we shouldn't entreat pirates but it's way more of a solution.
 

Snake_Plissken

Neo Member
I didn't buy Gears 5 on Steam, but I will be buying the Master Chief Collection. I don't necessarily think there is a correlation between Gears sales and potential future sales of other first party games. But, maybe it is an indicator; time will tell.
 

Kagey K

Banned
That, and/or because you can get a cheap gpu trial subscription and not have to pay for it on steam.
The other thing is, Steam numbers are starting to become less relevant. They are starting to look like a small snapshot of what PC gamers are actually doing instead of holding 95% of the market.

Just look at Borderlands 3. There’s something like 250k+ playing, yet Steam will show 0.

They are going to be a very inaccurate way to judge PC gaming going forward, (compared to how they used to be)
 
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No, i don't agree with the premise that the market performance of Gears of War 5 on Steam can indicate something about the interest gamers have for Xbox "exclusives". There are a number of reasons why Gears of War 5 isn't as popular as some might have expected:

1. The Steam User Score is "Mixed" not because of the core campaign, which apparently is great, but because of questionable anti-consumer practices, an un-polished state of release containing bugs, wildly un-balanced multiplayer, advertised split-screen for several game-modes not in the final release of the PC version.

2. The IP has not had a strong marketing presence ever since Gears of War 2 over a decade ago, as far as i'm concerned. And there was no marketing push for Gears of War 5's availability on PC. These two elements contributed to a general unawareness concerning the release.

3. Gears of War 4 is generally perceived as a disappointment, that naturally caused suspicion regarding any future installment.

That's my general opinion after a glance.
 
The other thing is, Steam numbers are starting to become less relevant. They are starting to look like a small snapshot of what PC gamers are actually doing instead of holding 95% of the market.

Just look at Borderlands 3. There’s something like 250k+ playing, yet Steam will show 0.

They are going to be a very inaccurate way to judge PC gaming going forward, (compared to how they used to be)

Weird how Steam would show 0 people playing a non-Steam game.
 

TimFL

Member
Most people are probably on Game Pass for this game. That being said, and this is not meant to be console wary and offensive (cause I do enjoy a few XB1 exclusives), I think the Gears franchise is incredibly boring and I never got the appeal of it. Wouldn't be surprised if more PC gamers thought that way (partially due to the fact that this is the first time they get access to a Gears game).
 

Lanrutcon

Member
Read the person I quote. He said the game was dead. Unless he meant in sales and not in player base, then I've mistaken what he meant.

I...am the person you quoted. Gears as a franchise hasn't had a presence on PC in years. The steam version was never going to sell well.
 

Zaffo

Member
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The only thing it tells, is that people don't care about the latest woke entry into a franchise that should have ended at the third installment, MC collection it's going to sell great on Steam since people love Halo 1 through 3.
 
It is actually remarkable that a game you can essentially get for free on game pass has sold so many full priced versions. I mean these people are chosing to pay $70 for it when they really don't need too.
 

deriks

4-Time GIF/Meme God
1º: GamePass is way cheaper, and you could even play a few days earlier (if you have Ultimate)
2º: Most consumers of Gears are on Xbox, so Microsoft saw it coming
3º: Based on people online, it's doing fine
 

Dane

Member
It is actually remarkable that a game you can essentially get for free on game pass has sold so many full priced versions. I mean these people are chosing to pay $70 for it when they really don't need too.

Heck, Forza horizon 4 still on the top 10 selling charts for Xbox. And guess what? In 2018, it was only on that chart for two months, in 2019 it has been on four-five.
 

DanielsM

Banned
1º: GamePass is way cheaper, and you could even play a few days earlier (if you have Ultimate)
2º: Most consumers of Gears are on Xbox, so Microsoft saw it coming
3º: Based on people online, it's doing fine

For free on Game Pass, probably not bad. My guess for sales, bomb. 💣 Already out of the top 30 on Amazon, and starting to head out of the top 100 most played (at #75) games on Steam. > Rage 2 sales if I were to guess, but we'll probably never know.
 
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Kenpachii

Member
It is actually remarkable that a game you can essentially get for free on game pass has sold so many full priced versions. I mean these people are chosing to pay $70 for it when they really don't need too.

Could also be they don't know it exists or are using older windows solutions.
 

Dada55000

Member
Peeps are saying that Gears was never a PC game. Gears of War was released on PC. I played it on PC and loved it. Still have the game, game disc, DVD case and manual. Problem was the game was pirated so bad that CliffyB told the PC community to pound sand and that Gears 2 would not be released on PC. Anyway that is the scuttlebutt heard hanging out on the Epic game forums back in the day. Back then Epic was a PC developer. Unreal, Unreal Tournament. It was UT that put those guys on the map, made CliffyB and Tim Sweeney rich and famous. I tried playing Gears 2 on the Xbox, but after getting so used to playing Gears with the K/B and mouse, I just couldn't get with that Xbox controller.
You're forgetting the part where it was a late port using Games for Windows Live. It wasn't piracy that killed it, that's just the convenient excuse to blame someone other than themselves. That whole 2007-2010 period of publishers and devs crying about piracy was self-inflicted and mostly down to shit ports+horrible DRM+GFW.
 

DanielsM

Banned
It is actually remarkable that a game you can essentially get for free on game pass has sold so many full priced versions. I mean these people are chosing to pay $70 for it when they really don't need too.

Well, I doubt they have 40m+ Game Pass users, I mean the "free" thing is mostly if you extended your XBL subscription (at least my understanding of the deal). The people paying for the game on Steam probably don't have Game Pass, generally speaking. This game is a bomb as far as sales, probably not as bad as Crackdown 3 though. It will probably be a cold day in hell before they release official sales numbers of this or Crackdown 3.

Makes one wonder what the sales of these games would have been without Game Pass, Phil said Game Pass increase game sales. :messenger_tears_of_joy:

Eventually, Satya is going to figure out that Phil sold him a bill of goods on all this Game Pass stuff. I'm expecting massive revenue drops coming for Gaming split with Microsoft.
 
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Well, I doubt they have 40m+ Game Pass users, I mean the "free" thing is mostly if you extended your XBL subscription (at least my understanding of the deal). The people paying for the game on Steam probably don't have Game Pass, generally speaking. This game is a bomb as far as sales, probably not as bad as Crackdown 3 though. It will probably be a cold day in hell before they release official sales numbers of this or Crackdown 3.

Makes one wonder what the sales of these games would have been without Game Pass, Phil said Game Pass increase game sales. :messenger_tears_of_joy:

Eventually, Satya is going to figure out that Phil sold him a bill of goods on all this Game Pass stuff.

No, it was 1$ on PC as well and only 5 after that. I don't need to buy XBOX Live Gold either, I legit have only been doing 5 bucks a month since the 1 dollar promotion ended.
 

DanielsM

Banned
No, it was 1$ on PC as well and only 5 after that. I don't need to buy XBOX Live Gold either, I legit have only been doing 5 bucks a month since the 1 dollar promotion ended.

Yeah, I can't remember the details (you're probably right, I probably need to go reread it). but many people don't even want a microsoft account. Amazon and Steam are the tells, borderline horrible sales are very likely. sales >= Rage 2 is my guess

Phil is going to need many more billions from Uncle Satya, they basically need a GoW/Halo game every month or two to have a chance for a service like this to ever gain traction, imo.... meaning people actually pay for it.
 
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Sentenza

Member
I'm not sure why we went four pages into this pointless thread.
The article opening it is bullshit to begin with.
 

deriks

4-Time GIF/Meme God
For free on Game Pass, probably not bad. My guess for sales, bomb. 💣 Already out of the top 30 on Amazon, and starting to head out of the top 100 most played (at #75) games on Steam. > Rage 2 sales if I were to guess, but we'll probably never know.
I stand correctly
 

Nikana

Go Go Neo Rangers!
Yeah, I can't remember the details (you're probably right, I probably need to go reread it). but many people don't even want a microsoft account. Amazon and Steam are the tells, borderline horrible sales are very likely. sales >= Rage 2 is my guess

Phil is going to need many more billions from Uncle Satya, they basically need a GoW/Halo game every month or two to have a chance for a service like this to ever gain traction, imo.... meaning people actually pay for it.

For someone who constantly complains Microsoft doesn't give numbers, you seem to have all of it figured out with exact numbers. You seem to know exactly what Microsoft needs to do.

Got those lotto numbers for me?
 

DanielsM

Banned
For someone who constantly complains Microsoft doesn't give numbers, you seem to have all of it figured out with exact numbers. You seem to know exactly what Microsoft needs to do.

Got those lotto numbers for me?

If you regularly buy Microsoft bullshit, you're lotto numbers are 0 0 0 0 0 0.

I actually I don't know what Microsoft should do as far as gaming, I think that shipped has basically sailed except possibly as a traditional 3rd party publishers/developer - maybe. They're future failures continue to be easy to spot in advance.... really across their whole consumer side of the equation, although there really isn't many things left.

They have a very tough road ahead, not necessarily impossible but very tough.
 
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