Was looking for this. Thought it was Matt who said it and my search turned up with nothing.
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How did Gears of War 4 sell?
- Thread starter jelly
- Start date
Well when your only competition is yourself (Gears 1-3) its hard to top those greats. But also I wonder if the Gears Collection put any dents into those sales. Yeah so it is kinda strange that a new gears debut on the Xbox One failed but I expect Gears 5 to have momentum fueled by new tech and better timing.
I think the only thing known is 5M shipped in 2015 unless there's been new info.
But I don't think it's too out there to say it's gotta be past 5M now when you consider sales, 343 post launch support, the S bundle at launch and digital factoring in. It could even be past 6M at this point.
Ein Bear
Member
I'd argue that Sony's first party efforts, whilst very good for the most part, never quite resulted in a sales juggernaut on the scale of Halo/Gears last generation. The PS4 is doing hugely better than the PS3 did, and the reversal of popularity this gen has lead to a larger audience for them to tap into.
Halo and Gears however were already about as big as they possibly could be, and the 360 was the most popular console last gen. There just isn't really the room for sales growth there on the MS side.
Wii?
The problem isn't that Halo 5 and Gears 4 are down at all, the problem is that they were both MASSIVELY down.
DriftingSpirit
Member
Even if you want to go with that, why the big drops for both Halo and Gears?
Hoya Destroyer
Member
Its a good game and the online seems to be populated all the time here in a small market like Australia, so I hope it did well.
Ein Bear
Member
Completely agree.
To clarify, I'm not trying to defend the sales. I'm just musing about internal predictions, as the hardware transition was what Epic pointed to when the decided against GoW4 in the first place.
Kenzodielocke
Banned
I think Halo 3 had the same install base as Halo 5, and Gears 4 the same as Gears 2, iirc.
And in case of Halo 5, MS, according to Obliterator, was really disappointed and way off with their projections.
Oh they both underperformed MS's projections.
It sold 5 million copies in the first 3 months. It's been another 11 months since then and nobody knows.
Fox Mulder
Member
Plus halo 4 was kind of disappointing, the MCC was a huge shit show, and I have zero interest in what 343 is doing with the franchise now.
I bought an OG Xbox for Halo CE, and now I don't even care about it.
JuanLatino
Member
oh yeah i remember that 5mio news
tought we got another sales update since then
while those numbers are still great, its still shocking to see such a big decline.
I think console bases are a bit of a moot point now considering the numbers sold. The fan bases have probably gone down and haven't been replaced with enough new users. 80 million consoles didn't help Halo 4 outsell previous entries or Gears of War Judgement outsell other Gears games.
Angelus Errare
Banned
Halo 5 sold 5m in the first 3 months? I would have never known given the lack of PR by MS on Halo 5.
How much did Halo 4 do in the same time frame?
How much did Halo 4 do in the same time frame?
Good to know. I quit the game at the end of act 1 and was ready to write Gears 4 off entirely. That opening act was just terrible, not a strong hook for a waning franchise from a new dev to win over hearts and minds. I'll force myself to press on though.
It gets better and finishes very strongly. It's second only to Gears 3 IMO.
It was released on Windows 10 Store. It did poorly.
Possumowner
Member
Ouch at those numbers,didnt realise they were so poor,in proportion to other Gears titles
PanicFreak
Member
After I saw the month 1 sales of Halo 5, I was wondering how the plans for series after Halo 6 would go. I just don't see any path to growth for the series.
They said it was the fasting selling Microsoft studios game in it's launch year which is PR goal post moving. Didn't flop but they didn't feel like giving numbers after the first year, think it sold 4 million or so a few months after release.
Not surprised. I don't know many people who were interested in it, felt like those who loved it last gen had their fill and this Gears doesn't do anything new.
This. I am glad The Coalition is on the series. With these sales numbers I imagine they'll change things up a bit going forward.
This. I am glad The Coalition is on the series. With these sales numbers I imagine they'll change things up a bit going forward.
Coulomb_Barrier
Member
How the mighty have fallen.
I always equate Gears to God of War on the Sony side. Because they're both 'GoW' but more importantly were/are one of the 3-4 big franchises in each consoles' stable.
But if the next Gof of War sold this bad, it would be downright shocking. So I don't know what has happened to this franchise that it's now doing these kinds of numbers.
I always equate Gears to God of War on the Sony side. Because they're both 'GoW' but more importantly were/are one of the 3-4 big franchises in each consoles' stable.
But if the next Gof of War sold this bad, it would be downright shocking. So I don't know what has happened to this franchise that it's now doing these kinds of numbers.
Yeah this is what I'm thinking. Xbox had a much bigger user base at the end of the 360 generation. I don't know the figures but PlayStation has taken a lot of people away. I enjoyed Gears 4, the game did look and play very similar to previous games in the franchise so that could be another reason it didn't have that mass wow factor. I think the Xbox brand is getting its stride back with the S and Scorpio but the Xbox One release under Don Matrick and PlayStation 4's spot on marketing / power as a counter really hit the brand hard.
Arthr2ShdsJcksn
Banned
The quality is good and the value is insane.
I got it on BF for $35, with the codes for Gears 1-3 + Judgment (which I never played). The only thing that would have made it better was if Gears 1 was the remastered version.
The thing is that it really was 'more of the same'. It didn't excite me the ways Gears 1 did back in the day.
I got it on BF for $35, with the codes for Gears 1-3 + Judgment (which I never played). The only thing that would have made it better was if Gears 1 was the remastered version.
The thing is that it really was 'more of the same'. It didn't excite me the ways Gears 1 did back in the day.
What A Time To Be Alive
Member
I feel like that was due to the game being rushed out.
I think The Coalition only had like two years for this game.
It didn't.
MS bought it January 2014, so almost three years.
Does it get better? I finished it and thought yeah, this seems like a series that isn't trying anymore. I enjoyed the beginning for the change of pace, but it almost immediately turns right back into a series of levels that could be spliced into the original games without people really noticing. The series feels incredibly stagnant. It was the first Gears game where I actually enjoyed the characters though.
SamuelSupreme
Banned
Thats exactly where im at. What went wronf? It couldnt just be install base. You would think a new Gears and Halo would move consoles themselves.
Is the Xbox brand that damaged? Did MCC really fuck up Halo that badly?
Can these franchises be recovered or should MS let them chill for a few years? MS should have treated bungie better, and shoukd have bought Bioware it's clear that since losing both teams in their Exclusivity stable has hurt them considerably.
Every game dropped arround Black Friday. Battlefield was also arround 35 bucks.
TimeEffect
Member
Wow that's surprising. How is halo
Two biggest ms ips that are nowhere near where they used to be. Arr they working on any big games?
At least forza is shining with horizon
Two biggest ms ips that are nowhere near where they used to be. Arr they working on any big games?
At least forza is shining with horizon
Shame it didn't sell more. The game was legit. I actually enjoyed the SP campaign on the bone but I guess the formula just doesn't work anymore. Corridor levels with the same encounters for 8 hours just get boring. Microsoft had some good games with Gears 4 and Quantum Break but the abysmal hardware sales worldwide stopped those games from selling. Crazy to think that sales juggernauts like Halo and Gears became such bombas in only a couple of years despite being decent.
DriftingSpirit
Member
I don't think MS can afford to let them chill. Those are the two biggest franchises they have and while they are in decline, they are the only foundation they have. The other IP they have tried to foster this gen haven't hit and they don't want to risk building big, new IP in house.
They have third party partners but those relations seem more to fill the gap in their lineup more than creating "the next big thing" for them.
I think MS will stick with them and just try to make as much money as possible off of them. They don't really have any other choice.
CrichtonKicks
Member
This has been gone over ad nauseum but Uncharted and TLoU were already selling at Gears levels before this generation. And Gears was never at the Halo level.
This for sure. I played Infinite Warfare right at the same time I started Gears 4, and while the new CoD wasn't really doing all that much differently in terms of formula, the core act of shooting was far more remarkable. Both games feature plenty of robot slaughter surprisingly, but CoD provided tactile feedback and satisfying degradation of the mechanized drones you are hitting, while Gears does not.
In Gears 4(especially on Insane difficulty), you endure some of the most blatant bullet sponge opposition yet. There is no feedback whatsoever to imply how effective your clip unloads are on limbs, heads, or torsos, as you literally just spray and pray the invisible HP meters trickle down before the magical AI aiming headshots the player to a cheap checkpoint restart. Factor in no real advancements to the game formula beyond inserting actual Horde mode sections into the campaign checkpoints, and the relatively flat, boxy environs(at least based on Act 1) and there isn't much reason to drum up excitement for this campaign. GAF does state the game hits its stride in the mid-game, but I have had a really struggle wanting to press on after that lethargic first impression. If the rest of the game plays it as safe as that first act, there is little reason for gamers to be excited at all aside from enhanced visuals afforded by modern hardware.
MAX PAYMENT
Member
4 didn't sell well? That's sad to hear because it's such a good game. I think they did better than epic.
They can start by making Marcus the playable protagonist again and putting him front and centre! He's the face of the series and is a lot more likeable than the kids, especially when he's growling at their antics and giving them a dressing down for being idiots. I think having an uninspiring cover with 3 nobodies and making JD the protagonist hurt the game's sales.
Well I liked it! Yeah it's more of the same and the effect of the storms on the battlefields was overhyped and underused but there's some good enemy variety and the last level with
the mech
StalkerUKCG
Banned
It's a really great game, Those numbers are a shame
GoW was a graphical showcase game that came out on the strongest system last gen. I'm willing to bet a large portion of that particular audience was turned off by the initial Xbox weaknesses early in the generation and moved to PS4, reducing the number of fans of that franchise in the ecosystem.