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NPD Sales Results for November 2015 [Up3: Combined Hardware For PS4 + XB1 + Wii U]

It's being made by a new developer that doesn't have Epic's legacy nor history with the franchise, and to make matters worse, it's first gameplay showing at E3 was rather weak. It's definitely got a lot to prove, though that's not to say it can't still turn out amazing.

And yet I thought it looked good and I'm excited for it.
 
Yeah, big trouble for MS incoming. Scalebound's destiny (no pun intended) is to bomb (again, no pun intended), and the reactions to the Gears 4 announcement so far was just... abysmal. Uncharted 4 is all over the place, getting a lot of headlines and premature praise, but almost no one talks about Gears 4. Just look at the thread for the most anticipated game of 2016 (voting ends in 3 days btw.). I doubt Gears 4 will make it into the Top 10 and that says a lot for a title which is supposed to be a headliner for its platform.
That can change quickly though. If they have a great E3 showing and then a nice MP Gamescom showing, Gears hype could escalate considerably. I think the major thing holding it back is that it's a different developer team making Gears, like 343 with Halo. If another developer makes a spinoff Uncharted for example, can't say I will be hyped for it unless it's about 10 years from now.
 
The problem with Gears 4 reveal was that aside from the storm effect, it didn't have a "wow" moment in it.

Next year's E3 reveal should have a set piece reveal that blow people off, but in terms of just pure gameplay, Gears 4 reveal didn't have the equivalent of the "UC4 Rope Punch" or Titanfall's "Wallrun and Mechs" holy shit moment.
 

wapplew

Member
The problem with Gears 4 reveal was that aside from the storm effect, it didn't have a "wow" moment in it.

Next year's E3 reveal should have a set piece reveal that blow people off, but in terms of just pure gameplay, Gears 4 reveal didn't have the equivalent of the "UC4 Rope Punch" or Titanfall's "Wallrun and Mechs" holy shit moment.

Who knows, plenty of times to show something awesome until release, we are not even 2016 yet.
 
Queso is absolutely 100% correct. The biggest thing hurting software sales currently is timid publishers. They did not expect current gen to skyrocket out of the gate like it did. Took the whole industry by surprise
 

sense

Member
Gears isn't coming out anytime soon so of course it's not going to top Uncharted on anticipated lists right now (that's outside of the fact that it's an exclusive on the lower selling console). We'll see how things are once the "hype train" starts with more info, footage, and details.
You do remember uncharted topped last years list as well right when it was presumed to be a year off like gears is right now. Anyways it doesn't matter because I feel like games with strong SP campaigns tend to be more anticipated, loved by the hardcore crowd and are also likely to win goty awards but mp games usually sell more.Halo and gears were always more known or got famous for their mp and brought in the casual crowd that likes to jump in and play with friends. Gears not being on the anticipated list isn't indicative of its sales even though I can see it underperforming like halo 5 compared to the original trilogy. Even if gears was coming out around the same time as uncharted 4 it wouldn't be able to beat it on any anticipated lists. It will be a close battle between gow4 and GOW4 though :)
 
Who knows, plenty of times to show something awesome until release, we are not even 2016 yet.

Sure, but then again, when was the last time a game turned out much better than the first gameplay (!) trailer promised? Especially since developers in general have no track record of holding back when they show their new game to the world.

Back in the day I bought a XBOX360 because of Gears 1, and I asume I wasn't the only one. Gears 1 was full of "holy shit!" moments, a superb system seller. My point is - right now - Gears 4 is far away from having the same effect on XBOX One sales. I am not saying it's unimportant, but it has to improve and show a lot (!) more not to get burried in the crowd of late Q4 games release mayhem.

It will be a close battle between gow4 and GOW4 though :)

We'll see about that. At least Santa Monica Studios usually has no problems in delivering proper "holy shit!" moments (or better: "what the fuck is he doing?!" moments").
 

mejin

Member
I think Microsoft is doing a good job to protect Gears 4. Their announcement on E3 was definitely not so hot. I think people were expecting some teaser, It'd be enough. But they went all the way with a gameplay and it was too rough to show.

Now they need to reintroduce the game next E3 IMO.
 
Both BF and UC bundles were sold on on Amazon for the week leading up to XMAS. I wish Sony had supplied more. I know many stores in the US were stocked though.

I know this is NPD but do we have any DEC updated for Amazon UK?
 
It's being made by a new developer that doesn't have Epic's legacy nor history with the franchise, and to make matters worse, it's first gameplay showing at E3 was rather weak. It's definitely got a lot to prove, though that's not to say it can't still turn out amazing.
What I liked about that reveal was seemingly more intimate, horror tone that was main draw for me in first Gears, was finally back. I'm really excited what they have to offer, though I don't see Gears 4 having same impact as first had back in a day.
 
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...re-no-radioshack-as-investors-doubts-increase

As 2015 draws to a close, GameStop is the most shorted stock in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, with 46 percent of the available shares borrowed and sold by investors betting that they’ll drop more. They’re also among the worst performers in the S&P 500 this quarter and have slumped 27 percent since late November, when sales and profit missed analysts’ estimates.

Gamestop stock not doing too hot.
 
I think Microsoft is doing a good job to protect Gears 4. Their announcement on E3 was definitely not so hot. I think people were expecting some teaser, It'd be enough. But they went all the way with a gameplay and it was too rough to show.

Now they need to reintroduce the game next E3 IMO.

Rough isn't the word i'd use to describe the E3 gameplay demo for Gears 4; 'underwhelming' is more apt.

Gears 4 seemingly performed fine on a technical level, it had some nice wow moments, but none of it was engaging. The demo completely goes off-rails when all that built-up tension delivers enemies that just aren't anywhere near as compelling as we've seen from series history. It had that classic horror movie build-up, but the monster-behind-the-curtain's reveal just disarms anything else the demo may have had to offer, especially once you realize that these may be the equivalent of a natural beast, instead of some sentient/intelligent being.

I feel like the slower/more thoughtful tone & pace they seemed to lean into in the E3 demo is also at odds with what I come to expect from Gears as a series. The character moments & banter it had seemed to emulate something out of a Naughty Dog game, but thats not really why I play Gears, nor has that been anywhere near the series' strongest suit in the past, and nothing demoed back at E3 made me believe they'd gotten particularly better in this department.
 

Somnia

Member
Yeah, big trouble for MS incoming. Scalebound's destiny (no pun intended) is to bomb (again, no pun intended), and the reactions to the Gears 4 announcement so far was just... abysmal. Uncharted 4 is all over the place, getting a lot of headlines and premature praise, but almost no one talks about Gears 4. Just look at the thread for the most anticipated game of 2016 (voting ends in 3 days btw.). I doubt Gears 4 will make it into the Top 10 and that says a lot for a title which is supposed to be a headliner for its platform.

Lets wait and see how Gears looks at E3 this year with it being much further along. It won't make it into any top 10 most anticipated lists right now because last years showing was clearly early and very meh. I am curious how it looks at this E3 having another year of development and when they start showing multiplayer.
 
Lets wait and see how Gears looks at E3 this year with it being much further along. It won't make it into any top 10 most anticipated lists right now because last years showing was clearly early and very meh. I am curious how it looks at this E3 having another year of development and when they start showing multiplayer.

The beta for Gears 4 is going to be much more important than its E3 showing. Appears to be open and its out in Spring which I would guess is very likely to be before E3

Also Gears 4 is definitely on my top 10, in fact i'd say its probably second. What they showed at E3 last year was uncharacteristically early for them to show campaign gameplay in a Gears/Halo which is usually held until the E3 before launch.

Its clearly their vertical slice they've been showing to the MS execs. I liked it, was a nice teaser, intrigue over characters/setting/enemies, I didn't really get all the "meh" about it so far before launch. Perhaps they should have just shown a CGI trailer with the way some people received it (then people would complain about CGI...) same for Scalebound with all the concern over its frame-rate
 

Bgamer90

Banned
You do remember uncharted topped last years list as well right when it was presumed to be a year off like gears is right now. Anyways it doesn't matter because I feel like games with strong SP campaigns tend to be more anticipated, loved by the hardcore crowd and are also likely to win goty awards but mp games usually sell more.Halo and gears were always more known or got famous for their mp and brought in the casual crowd that likes to jump in and play with friends. Gears not being on the anticipated list isn't indicative of its sales even though I can see it underperforming like halo 5 compared to the original trilogy. Even if gears was coming out around the same time as uncharted 4 it wouldn't be able to beat it on any anticipated lists. It will be a close battle between gow4 and GOW4 though :)

I never said that the hype levels for both games would be close (hence why I mentioned the systems that both games are on). Uncharted 4 has been getting hyped by Sony for a pretty long time (pretty much since the PS4 launched).

Gears 4 was just revealed a few months ago. Both games were never going to be on the same level of hype right now in my opinion.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure Gears 4 will have better looking footage this year alongside the beta. I think the game will do pretty well (possibly similar to Halo 5). I don't expect it to be a big hit like the first Gears of War was though simply because that game released during a much different time in video gaming. Fewer huge "AAA" action titles/franchises back then.
 
There was just nothing standout about what was shown. It didn't look bad at all but there was nothing really gripping either. One or two moments that have you anticipating what is to come from Gears.

As it has been pointed out though, it was early. It is best to reserve judgement until next E3. Speaking of E3, we're almost 6 months from it again. Crazy.
 

Intrigue

Banned
Anyway, I'm pretty sure Gears 4 will have better looking footage this year alongside the beta. I think the game will do pretty well (possibly similar to Halo 5). I don't expect it to be a big hit like the first Gears of War was though simply because that game released during a much different time in video gaming. Fewer huge "AAA" action titles/franchises back then.

That's a given, it would almost be impossible to have a worse showing with an additional 1 year plus development time.

For it doing well, I am not sure you want to take your premium AAA franchises and make them sell much less each time, like Halo-5.
 

Bgamer90

Banned
That's a given, it would almost be impossible to have a worse showing with an additional 1 year plus development time.

For it doing well, I am not sure you want to take your premium AAA franchises and make them sell much less each time, like Halo-5.

Would Gears 4 doing similar to Halo 5 be a rise for the series though? I'm not familiar with how the series did on the 360 as a whole.
 
Would Gears 4 doing similar to Halo 5 be a rise for the series though? I'm not familiar with how the series did on the 360 as a whole.

Gears has always been a strong seller, doing less than Halo, but still very strong. Less than ~2 million within its first 3 months of launch would be a terrible drop for the series, but in-line with where the X1 install base is. Then again, I expect the install base of X1 to be even higher next year, so it should do better.
 
I don't expect it to be a big hit like the first Gears of War was though simply because that game released during a much different time in video gaming. Fewer huge "AAA" action titles/franchises back then.

Oh, you know people used that "2007" argument when explaining why Uncharted 1 isn't as good as its successor ;).

Thing is, back in the day, Uncharted and Gears franchises met on equal footing. But Uncharted 4 did something interesting: It blew everybody away (and got everyone's intention, from fans to haters) within the very first seconds of its reveal:

video-preview-2809909-26-rcm992x0.jpg


So it's not impossible for a matured franchise to rise and shine. Hence the "different time" aspect is no excuse for its utterly weak reveal. Full stop. Good thing is, Gears 4 seems to be more than just, well, "more Gears". New gameplay elements, new story, new characters. And that's a good thing. Not sure though if that is what Gears fans realls want.
 
Lets get some Gears numbers in here. How has it opened and performed in the US across the series? Judgement is the last one it has to outdo but Gears 3 is the more direct correlation that should be noted.
 
This is the part where I remember someone who posted Amazon stats for 1 hour where the Gears bundle was one spot above the Battlefront bundle.

That Battlefront bundle probably did gangbusters for Sony during the holiday.

I had one friend/kinda relative that received a Battlefront bundle last week. And no friends that got Xbox One's, so if I extrapolate that, PS4 wins December by 100%.

Is my math correct? Someone should double check that.
 

allan-bh

Member
Gears 4 announcement on E3 wasn't exciting but Microsoft has plenty of time to build hype in 2016.

I believe we will hear a lot about the game until its release.
 

Ryng_tolu

Banned
Too bad i'm late for talk about NX... oh well, not surprised about this thing in this thread. It's 2016 damn. Is boring at this point only talk about PS4 VS XB1

Anywaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, hope we will talk about this even in the nexts thread, and as for now, well, i just wait for the December prediction thread.

Spoiler:
PS4 will win. :O

Lets get some Gears numbers in here. How has it opened and performed in the US across the series? Judgement is the last one it has to outdo but Gears 3 is the more direct correlation that should be noted.


[FIRST NPD]

Gears of War - 1,000,000
Gears of War 2 - 1,560,000
Gears of War 3 - 2,000,000
Gears of War: Judgement - 620,000
 

jayu26

Member
I had one friend/kinda relative that received a Battlefront bundle last week. And no friends that got Xbox One's, so if I extrapolate that, PS4 wins December by 100%.

Is my math correct? Someone should double check that.
Without the MAU function, any consol mathematical calculation is invalid.
 
I think gears has the chance to do better than Halo. Halo's reputation was heavily damaged and it released against 2 bigger and hotter shooters. Gears is by far not as exploited and if they get their shit together on release timing and marketing it might be surprisingly successful.
On a side note: if the game is actually good that might help, too.
 
On a side note: if the game is actually good that might help, too.

Let's ask Mrs. Croft about her opinion on that matter... Although I know the reasons I still can't believe how bad ROTTR performed.

Too bad i'm late for talk about NX... oh well, not surprised about this thing in this thread. It's 2016 damn. Is boring at this point only talk about PS4 VS XB1

Anywaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, hope we will talk about this even in the nexts thread, and as for now, well, i just wait for the December prediction thread.

Talks about NX will gain a lot of momentum if it's true that the console will be shown during CES 2016 (behind closed doors).
 

Ryng_tolu

Banned
I think gears has the chance to do better than Halo. Halo's reputation was heavily damaged and it released against 2 bigger and hotter shooters. Gears is by far not as exploited and if they get their shit together on release timing and marketing it might be surprisingly successful.
On a side note: if the game is actually good that might help, too.

Yes, Gears has a chance to sell better than Halo.

But i doubt it will. Most of who played Gears of War agree to say that this series should end with the third.

I just don't see Gears of War to sell like usually sells... and i say it won't beat Halo 5.

Talks about NX will gain a lot of momentum if it's true that the console will be shown during CES 2016 (behind closed doors).


Humm, we will see. :-/
 
Let's ask Mrs. Croft about her opinion on that matter... Although I know the reasons I still can't believe how bad ROTTR performed.
That's exactly why I said:
if they get their shit together on release timing and marketing it might be surprisingly successful.
On a side note: if the game is actually good that might help, too.
Quality is not everything. We have great titles bombing, trash selling like sliced bread, but also great games finding the sales they deserve.
But I still believe that being a good game is a plus, not a minus.
 
Yes, Gears has a chance to sell better than Halo.

But i doubt it will. Most of who played Gears of War agree to say that this series should end with the third.

I just don't see Gears of War to sell like usually sells... and i say it won't beat Halo 5./
Chances are high that it will also underperform like Halo. But there are millions of Xboxes sold nevertheless, and I just don't get why people bought the console if not for typical xbox games...

By the way: which console exclusives for XB1 or ps4 (ignoring PC and old gen to avoid nitpicking) could be called successful so far, compared to typical expectations?
 

Ryng_tolu

Banned
Chances are high that it will also underperform like Halo. But there are millions of Xboxes sold nevertheless, and I just don't get why people bought the console if not for typical xbox games...

By the way: which console exclusives for XB1 or ps4 (ignoring PC and old gen to avoid nitpicking) could be called successful so far, compared to typical expectations?

Definitive BloodBorne which sold better than all Souls game, on only one platform, in the launch month BloodBorne sold 389,000 in 2 weeks compared to Dark Soul 2 which sold less than 350,000 in 4 weeks.

Infamous Second Son as well, it sold way more than all others Infamous games, it sold almost 500,000 back in March 2014 compared to the 369,000 of Infamous 2 in June 2011.

And Killzone Shadow fall... basically, a lot of series on PS4.
 

Shin-Ra

Junior Member
There aren't any reliable numbers for what Microsoft paid Epic for the Gears franchise, are there?

Expectation for the next game to keep the series going has got to be higher than normal with that extra expense.
 
There aren't any reliable numbers for what Microsoft paid Epic for the Gears franchise, are there?

Expectation for the next game to keep the series going has got to be higher than normal with that extra expense.

Some people pull out $125m but when I say pull out its from their arse.

MS and Epic have never commented, I bet it wasn't cheap but included a load of other details like MS licensing UE4 for future titles in the franchise and other stuff
 

Bgamer90

Banned
...Hence the "different time" aspect is no excuse for its utterly weak reveal.

I... never said it was; Simply said that I doubt it will do as well as the first Gears due to more action game competition (and the fact that the Xbox One isn't going to do as well as the 360 did).

Main reason why I didn't like the reveal was due to it being so dark. Could hardly see what was happening. I'm not worried about the game at all though in terms of quality (at least not yet). I'm looking forward to the beta.
 

sense

Member
Too bad i'm late for talk about NX... oh well, not surprised about this thing in this thread. It's 2016 damn. Is boring at this point only talk about PS4 VS XB1

Anywaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, hope we will talk about this even in the nexts thread, and as for now, well, i just wait for the December prediction thread.

Spoiler:
PS4 will win. :O




[FIRST NPD]

Gears of War - 1,000,000
Gears of War 2 - 1,560,000
Gears of War 3 - 2,000,000
Gears of War: Judgement - 620,000
I can see gears of war 4 doing somewhere between gow 1 and 2 in first month npd. it would be terrible if it sold less than a million first month considering they paid money to buy it outright
 

Ryng_tolu

Banned
I can see gears of war 4 doing somewhere between gow 1 and 2 in first month npd. it would be terrible if it sold less than a million first month considering they paid money to buy it outright

I will go with 900,000 first NPD, since it don't track digital sales.

Including digital, 1.20 million. ( about 25% digital, seem about right since now the avg is 20%, and should increase next year)

So, in both case, less than Halo 5 which sold >1.30 million including digital and 935,000 at retail.
 
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