IcyRhythms
Member
They just need a team or two that can give them the next Halo or Gears. I don't mean shooters. I suppose they could be shooters, but just new extremely popular IP's.
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How did Gears of War 4 sell?
- Thread starter jelly
- Start date
They just need a team or two that can give them the next Halo or Gears. I don't mean shooters. I suppose they could be shooters, but just new extremely popular IP's.
Ratchet lost a lot of fans with One 4 All and Full Frontal Assault though. There was also Into the Nexus which is okay but was released in a bad time. R&C 2016 is honestly one of the more surprising turnarounds for the franchise, no doubt due to it being a reboot and the positive reception the game has.
Mass Effect
Member
Wow, I didn't realize Gears 4 had underperformed this badly (even if you count digital sales). First Halo, now this.
Still, the series isn't going anywhere, but I think for both Halo 6 and Gears 5 they will probably have to do a big shake-up in the formulas if they want to keep sales from declining any further.
Triggerhappytel
Member
And Gran Turismo is, as I recall, a bigger seller than Halo. So to imply Sony has no franchises which sell at this kind of level is total nonsense.
DriftingSpirit
Member
Pretty much.
I'm glad I am not the one making decisions in that regard because it is tough to figure out.
Triggerhappytel
Member
But the Xbone is selling faster than the 360 for its time on the market and Gears 4 has, for example, sold far less than Gears 2. Plus, I really don't think install base matters much after a year or two on the market - otherwise how do you explain Halo Reach and 4 selling considerably less than Halo 3?
ethomaz
Banned
Do you have any proof XB1 is selling faster than 360??? My estimates:
XB1 ~24m
360 ~26m
At end of the year 360 will cross 30m shipped... XB1 will reach 28m at best.
InsaneTiger
Member
This MS were talking about here, The Coalition is screwed...probably.
I actually thought Epic made a good decision when they sold off the IP.
It felt like something that was very much tied to a design paradigm that was going away, especially for $60 products.
Third person shooting that isn't part of some kind of large ranging, open world action adventure game or loot title or something is a hard pitch.
Uncharted is hanging on better, but I think Naughty Dog made the right call in retiring that one as well, and trying to open it up as much as they could (and they said they're going even farther on that in the expansion).
It felt like something that was very much tied to a design paradigm that was going away, especially for $60 products.
Third person shooting that isn't part of some kind of large ranging, open world action adventure game or loot title or something is a hard pitch.
Uncharted is hanging on better, but I think Naughty Dog made the right call in retiring that one as well, and trying to open it up as much as they could (and they said they're going even farther on that in the expansion).
Wolfgang Jr
Banned
Make an average game, get average sales.
Oh come on. Thats not how it works. And its by far not average.
Triggerhappytel
Member
I have no proof, besides statements I'm sure MS have made in the past that the Xbone sales are outpacing 360 sales. Of course, now that they don't give out sales numbers any more we have no actual way of telling if that's still the case. The point is, trying to justify lower sales by arguing the install base is lower holds no water at all.
PeterLegend
Member
Third person shooter without verticality game designs in 2016 brehs. All those muscles and they cant climb or utilize ladders or ropes.
Series fatigue happened with UC4 but to a much smaller extent
Series fatigue happened with UC4 but to a much smaller extent
Primethius
Banned
Gears underperformed but I feel that was bound to happen post-Halo decline. They also seemed to be targeting core fans so I'm sure their expectations were far more reasonable then not.
Though yea, the numbers are quite a drop for the series.
Though yea, the numbers are quite a drop for the series.
Hoya Destroyer
Member
I think you are right. The MP difficulty will scare many casuals away. I have been playing a lot lately, but like you, Im only average (1.1 KDR).
When I was playing the other day, I noticed a player on the other team only had one kill and twelve deaths. I felt bad for him and tried to find him on the battle field to give him a subtle freebie, but that didnt eventuate. He was still using his Lancer in close quarters when I last saw him. Poor guy. I think he finished with one kill and seventeen deaths
The learning curve and skill involved with Gears is very important to me, but at the same time, I dont wanna see new players get steam rolled. Its a tough balance to get right I think.
Thats the problem, Microsoft has invested in IPs that they thought could be as big as Halo or Gears. Thats not a good stradegy because when they fail to meet those expectations Microsoft abandons the IP and thereby abandons the potential success in the future.
Instead they should be investing in new IPs and if the first one has issues then improve it like Naughty Dog and Sony did with Uncharted 2. Microsoft is sitting on a treasure trove of Rare IP's fot crying out loud.
Perfect Dark could be a huge IP if Microsoft let's Rare take it back to it's roots as a bladerunner esque espionage, objective oriented and corridor game like the original game and Goldeneye. It's a shooter but it would be more unique and not seoerate from Halo, Gears and other military shooters.
The significant increase in quality and quantity of competition in the shooter space probably contributed to the declines of Halo and Gears. For a long time Halo wasn't just the top dog among console shooters, it was about the only dog. And Gears rose to prominence early last generation before shooters ran rampant and open-world and more dynamic games became the big things. Call of Duty, Battlefield, Destiny, The Division, Titanfall, etc. Are all high-quality competitors on the same platform now.
DriftingSpirit
Member
Competition is definitely a factor. With Halo though there was Halo 4 and the MCC debacle that hurt Halo 5's early reception and I think Microsofts early DRM policies turned off some fans early on.
I think Gears 4 issue is more dificult to pinpoint other than Judgement's reception. I think both Gears 4 and Halo 5 have done well enough atleast to put both franchises on a great track atleast. Time and effort will decide though.
How so?
It is selling better from Japan to US to UK compared to all the previous entries.
Technically and mechanically its well above average.
It lacked a Doc Brown Spider Monster.
The cool thing about sequels with actual great stories is that they rarely lack that.
For reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkCAvIDYZUo
th4tguy
Member
It's restricting too. Little changes were made to the formula of judgement to try and evolve the gameplay to something faster and better suited for professional gaming and the fans pooped all over it. Sales backed it up. Epic felt like it couldn't do anything more with the series and saw a much needed cash flow opp by selling the ip to MS.
What did Epic say?
Hesemonni
Banned
Exactly.
Shpeshal Nick
aka Collingwood
They will be up until the point they officially slit the Xbox One's throat. Everything they do from here on out is a long term setup for when that eventually happens.
Highly doubt that
MatrixMan.EXE
Member
Uncharted and The Last of Us sell just as much, if not more than Gears of War. The only difference being that, save for Uncharted 4 maybe, there isn't as much pomp and marketing hype surrounding those launches, which gives the impression that some of Microsoft's games are bigger than they are.
Hell, how much did Halo 4 and 5 sell?
Robobandit
Member
I'm sorry to see that Gears 4 didn't do well for them.
I really did enjoy most of my time with it.
Not having played Gears 1-3, I didn't feel the fatigue that many complained about. I do hope they get to make another one and that they'll take some risks and shake things up a bit now that they've got a 'safe' sequel under their belt.
By comparison, i certainly did feel fatigued playing through Uncharted 4's combat sections.. but I've played all of those games.. even the one on the Vita.. so I feel like it's understandable that I'd be tired of that gameplay.
I really did enjoy most of my time with it.
Not having played Gears 1-3, I didn't feel the fatigue that many complained about. I do hope they get to make another one and that they'll take some risks and shake things up a bit now that they've got a 'safe' sequel under their belt.
By comparison, i certainly did feel fatigued playing through Uncharted 4's combat sections.. but I've played all of those games.. even the one on the Vita.. so I feel like it's understandable that I'd be tired of that gameplay.
BananasWithGuns
Member
They tried verticality in Judgement. It was despised.
StrongBlackVine
Banned
Oh we definitely saw the Titanfall 2 flop coming.
professor denim
Member
Gears 4 is my go to online game on Xbox One. Like it a lot, its not the best but its a very competent shooter.
Has some of the best 3rd person mechanics imo, I really dig the horde mode, very addictive.
Hope the series gets at least 2 more games.
That being said, MS needs to bank its chips on more new AAA IP come Scoprio.
Speaking of this, even though we'll never actually know I'd be interested to see how Halo 5 has performed as a source of revenue since its release. We know that it's population has held on better than Halo 4's, and I feel like the REQ system turned out to be more popular than 343 was anticipating. I wonder how the unique post-launch support of both of these games and their other sources of revenue square with depressed overall sales.
chaosmaster(1)
Member
It seems that they've tried to push gears as a mp service type game similar to Halo. I would guess next game will get a bigger push on the mp side maybe with some significant gameplay additions to generate some freshness into it. Whether it was worth for MS to buy the ip is something I would think is. With a lot of MS new ip this gen bombing and the flagship Halo declining I wonder how that new ip the studio was working on would fare. I think gears will end up being profitable for MS but nowhere near what they expected when acquiring it.
Fata1moose
Banned
H5 must have a steady stream of revenue considering the updates it's still receiving. I suppose they could also just be doing it to gain good will for Halo 6.
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
Looking at the fall releases and how they did we sure got a lot of "average" games. That is what your saying right?
Halo and Gears are not going anywhere. Despite the huge drops, they are still two of their best selling franchises. Those are their tent pole franchises for now. Just like Capcom has Resident Evil and Street Fighter, Nintendo has Mario and Zelda, Sega has Sonic, etc. Now Sony is more of an outlier but even they still have franchises they go back to (GT and God of War).
Plenty of games have been disappointing sales wise this year (including multiple games that haven't had a new entry in years so it's not just franchise fatigue). I think it's insane to expect any of these big franchises to go away right now considering how rough the market is looking so I see no point in complaining about it. I would rather spend time thinking about how they can make these franchises feel fresh or exciting again.
I mean shit, I haven't been real interested in any of the Resident Evil or Zelda games in the past decade but you're not hearing me say they should stop making them. On the contrary, I'm pretty excited about the next big entry in both series. Any of these franchises can bounce back. They just have to get more creative if they want to make their games feel fresh again.
Plenty of games have been disappointing sales wise this year (including multiple games that haven't had a new entry in years so it's not just franchise fatigue). I think it's insane to expect any of these big franchises to go away right now considering how rough the market is looking so I see no point in complaining about it. I would rather spend time thinking about how they can make these franchises feel fresh or exciting again.
I mean shit, I haven't been real interested in any of the Resident Evil or Zelda games in the past decade but you're not hearing me say they should stop making them. On the contrary, I'm pretty excited about the next big entry in both series. Any of these franchises can bounce back. They just have to get more creative if they want to make their games feel fresh again.
Yeah, as much as we may hate the micro transactions, I'm sure they do a decent job of bringing in extra revenue. It's probably not a coincidence how many games lately have adopted more of a games as a service model.
onken
Member
Last game in this series I bought was Gears 1 on GfWL. When I bought this I was shocked how little the gameplay has evolved. Graphics aside, if you'd told me this has released 10 years ago I would have believed you.
I also had a bunch of MP issues but I am generously willingly to blame the Windows Store for most of them.
I also had a bunch of MP issues but I am generously willingly to blame the Windows Store for most of them.
Judgement was despised for many other reasons.
OrbitalBeard
Member
I hope they continue to work on Gears of War, because GoW4 is a great game.
blue_phazon
Member
That1BlackGuy
Member
Honestly I agree with this, it's admittedly selfish but nothing else in the industry plays like Gears of War. If The Coalition did decide to work on something else I wouldn't complain but on the other end I am not going to turn down more Gears, especially now with the quality that Gears 4 brought.
FarFromAnyGame
Banned
I disagree.