NPD October 2008

[eastmen]

None of that's conclusive. The only thing that'd conclusively state that GeoW is never going to a non-MS platform is if they bought the IP. I'm not even saying it's likely, I'm just saying that GeoW is not a MS franchise and there isn't strictly exclusive. If you want a further example, look at Bioware. Bioware also had a good relationship with MS, developing exclusive games for the 360. Mass Effect 360 was MGS, but ME PC was EA. We have no idea who's publishing ME2 (there's talk that Bioware is contractually obligated to give MS another ME, but it's usually by people who have no reason to know such things) but there's already speculation of multiplatform.

Look, all I'm saying is that 'GeoW has always been with MS, GeoW will always be with MS' is, well, a not really that safe. MS has plenty of reason to keep Epic happy, but we have no idea what's going on in their heads. Or not; if believing that it'd never, ever, ever happen makes you feel safe, go for it. Most likely we're not going to see a huge upset there. But then again, Bungie leaving MGS was also pretty unlikely.

How do you know what their agreements are You don't know whats happened since the first one. ME 2 is going to be published by ms as they had the deal for 2 games unless ea and ms worked something else out.

Now i don't know if Epic will be bought by anyone and as far as we are concerned Mass effect's example is currently not comparable to Gears of war.

As for beliving something well I tend to look at things as logical as pssible. Is gears of war selling extremely well on MS platforms ? Yes . Is ms publishing the games ? Yes. Is MS helping or paying out right for the advertising on the game ? Yes . Can Epic make more money by putting it on the 360 and ps3 ? Don't thinkg so. They would have to A) Go with another publisher B) create a ps3 build of the game C) have to pay for all of the advertisig for the game. . D) compete against MS games that they would now postion against gears of war and of course sony games that would be postioned against gears of war.

We also know that unlike sony , MS has been paying for exclusives and dlc. So examples of percieved sony exclusives are not really valid.

Of course who knows ms could just buy epic . They would gain alot as they would get an exclusie engine that was used heavely this gen and of course some strong ips .

 

[tha_con]

I would say Gears is far more important to the 360 than Halo 3 or the Halo franchise.

Gears sold consoles, Halo, well, it sold a lot of software units. Gears of War is this generations Halo, as far as I'm concerned. Halo 3 sold off of hype and marketing, more than it did off of being a good game.

 

[Rangers]

I would say Gears is far more important to the 360 than Halo 3 or the Halo franchise.

Gears sold consoles, Halo, well, it sold a lot of software units. Gears of War is this generations Halo, as far as I'm concerned. Halo 3 sold off of hype and marketing, more than it did off of being a good game.

Arguable..Halo 3 caused a large hardware spike (above the normal) in September 07 when it released. Gears 1 did not in Nov 06, really. Gears 2 remains to be seen..

Just looking at the raw sales, I dont know that Gears 2 will catch Halo 3, and it has a much larger userbase to sell into.

It's possible Gears franchise is "catching up" to Halo in popularity so to speak, and I think generally Gears is the better game (H3 was a disappointment to me) but that's subjective.

I mean, will Gears 2 sell 3.3 million in it's first NPD as Halo 3 did? I doubt it. Gears 1 sold 1 m it's first month (though it had a lower userbase than Halo 3).

So I think Gears may be becoming as big as Halo, but dont forget how big Halo really is.

 

[Vic]

That wasn't Halo1 or Halo2. We'll see how Gears 3 is going to sell.

From the top of my head, it's like this:

Halo1 6.5m
Gears1 5.3m

Halo2 8.5m
Gears2 ~3m and counting

Halo3 8.4m and counting

Whatever you say, the sales so far are more then comparable.

Not really, Halo 3 was well ahead of Gears' at this point. Also I'm talking buzz, and Halo 3 had a lot more buzz+marketing over here than Gears did. I imagine it was the same in the US too.

 

[woundingchaney]

Not really, Halo 3 was well ahead of Gears' at this point. Also I'm talking buzz, and Halo 3 had a lot more buzz+marketing over here than Gears did. I imagine it was the same in the US too.

Very much so. While Gears could be comparable to Halo sales with time there is nothing comparable as far as "buzz+marketing" to Halo. Halo is iconic for both the Xbox and the industry in general. Its probably the only other title that is almost as recognizable as Mario.

 

[Vic]

How do you know what their agreements are You don't know whats happened since the first one. ME 2 is going to be published by ms as they had the deal for 2 games unless ea and ms worked something else out.

Now i don't know if Epic will be bought by anyone and as far as we are concerned Mass effect's example is currently not comparable to Gears of war.

As for beliving something well I tend to look at things as logical as pssible. Is gears of war selling extremely well on MS platforms ? Yes . Is ms publishing the games ? Yes. Is MS helping or paying out right for the advertising on the game ? Yes . Can Epic make more money by putting it on the 360 and ps3 ? Don't thinkg so. They would have to A) Go with another publisher B) create a ps3 build of the game C) have to pay for all of the advertisig for the game. . D) compete against MS games that they would now postion against gears of war and of course sony games that would be postioned against gears of war.

We also know that unlike sony , MS has been paying for exclusives and dlc. So examples of percieved sony exclusives are not really valid.

Of course who knows ms could just buy epic . They would gain alot as they would get an exclusie engine that was used heavely this gen and of course some strong ips .

I think its silly to definitively say that Gears' or any other game wont appear on a different platform.

I'm sure there would be plenty of publishers that would happily pick up Gears'.

Creating a PS3 version at the same time as a 360 version would not cost that much. Epic have their experience developing UT3 for PS3 and optimising the UE3 on PS3. I cant believe you just included that point.

If it it went multipltform, who's to say Sony wouldn't pick up the advertising tab? (like with Burnout or Mirror's Edge).

Oh, and how many games (supposing MS have a pleothora of futuristic 3rd-person shooters just waiting to be unleashed on the gaming world) would MS 'position' against Gears 3 if it went multiplatform, despite knowing full well that the game would still sell plenty of copies on the 360.

Not having a dig, but maybe you should think about things more logically and less emotionally.

 

[Arwin]

I don't understand this discussion. Wasn't Gears a game commissioned by Microsoft, and isn't the IP and publishing rights fully owned by Microsoft? So why is this discussion running on and on?

 

[Refreshment]

So whats up with Beyond these days?

Gears of War not top tier? No need to waste your time defining the parameters that constitute "tiers". Its the 360 defining franchise just like Halo was for the first Xbox.

Following things, just cant believe the Wii misconception (as a low/slow software mover) is kept alive, more so when reliable sources prove quiet the opposite. Guess is about the great effort MS has put in showing the healthy 360 software status in every monthly press statement.

Nintendo should hire some planes to start dropping pamphlets to see if people gets it by now

 

[DuckThor Evil]

I don't understand this discussion. Wasn't Gears a game commissioned by Microsoft, and isn't the IP and publishing rights fully owned by Microsoft? So why is this discussion running on and on?

Epic owns the Gears IP. Microsoft had the exclusive rights for the first two titles, that deal was made long time ago. There haven't been any official news about future Gears titles or about their publishers.

 

[Zaphod]

Wasn't Gears a game commissioned by Microsoft, and isn't the IP and publishing rights fully owned by Microsoft?

I doubt it. Epic holds all trademarks relating to the term "GEARS OF WAR", which they wouldn't it it was a Microsoft owned property. Of course, there are probably other legal bindings between the partners that we aren't privy too. Besides that, it's an utterly useless discussion nonetheless. Especially in a NPD thread...

 

[fearsomepirate]

I would like to interrupt that I was also justified in my suspicion that Little Big Planet's appeal wasn't nearly as broad as forum dwellers were hoping it would be. Its appeal seems to have been relegated to a decent-sized niche, and it certainly didn't move platforms.

 

[Tap In]

I would like to interrupt that I was also justified in my suspicion that Little Big Planet's appeal wasn't nearly as broad as forum dwellers were hoping it would be. Its appeal seems to have been relegated to a decent-sized niche, and it certainly didn't move platforms.

yep

while PS3 is still waiting for KZ2 and a proper GT and a price drop, 360 already has had Gears 1, Gears 2, Halo 3 Forza2, Fable 2, etc almost ALL of the past PS2 exclusives -most looking or playing better on the system with more features in many cases- (achievements and online features etc.) and next year Halo 3.5 as well as a host of other amazing titles already out.

I agree with Bkillian.... the _number_ of quality games and price is moving systems from now on. Not many single titles will do that anymore.

example:
Xbox 360
371K

PlayStation 3
190K

 

[DrJay24]

I see the thread degenerated into typical console war cheerleading.

I don't think we can draw any conclusion about the appeal of LPB yet, especially while the console is $400.

 

[mrcorbo]

I would like to interrupt that I was also justified in my suspicion that Little Big Planet's appeal wasn't nearly as broad as forum dwellers were hoping it would be. Its appeal seems to have been relegated to a decent-sized niche, and it certainly didn't move platforms.

I think it's too early to tell at this point. It could have legs if Sony continue to promote it. To be honest I think this title would have done better earlier in the year or post-holiday when it could have had the spotlight to itself and there would have been more of a chance to create an awareness of what it was all about. In the holiday season it may be hard to grab gamers attention with all the sequels and major releases in established genres coming out. It's not really the time to introduce something so different IMHO.

 

[Tap In]

I see the thread degenerated into typical console war cheerleading.

unnecessary noise

I don't think we can draw any conclusion about the appeal of LPB yet, especially while the console is $400.

well considering it is estimated that MGS4 moved ~200k PS3 units in one month (1st week even), I think it's safe to say that it won't be near a system mover like that. Not saying it won't sell well long term, just not move systems.

 

[eastmen]

LBP may just be killed by sony. I have alot of friends saying that many levels are being deleted due to copy right problems. Many people may stay away from it or move on if it gets worse than it is now. Alot of people are also complaining about finding worth while levels.

 

[one]

LBP is squarely targeted to the holiday season when kids get consoles. I'm astonished some are jumping the gun.

 

[patsu]

LBP may just be killed by sony. I have alot of friends saying that many levels are being deleted due to copy right problems. Many people may stay away from it or move on if it gets worse than it is now. Alot of people are also complaining about finding worth while levels.

Only 0.5% of levels were deleted according to official statement. The "deleted levels" issue was highly exaggerated.

LBP is squarely targeted to the holiday season when kids get consoles. I'm astonished some are jumping the gun.

There is some level of mismatch in console pricing (w.r.t. current economy and casual gamer pricing). But overall, I believe it will do well, especially with DLCs from popular franchises.

 

[patsu]

This doesn't look any better for Wii

Not as great as hit games on the HD consoles for monthly top-N tracking, but the overall sales surprised many of us. None of us here track Wii games diligently anyway.

Wii is one year younger than 360. In other words, we are using one more year of million sellers on 360 to compare with Wii's list. The same goes for h/w sales.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I would like to interrupt that I was also justified in my suspicion that Little Big Planet's appeal wasn't nearly as broad as forum dwellers were hoping it would be. Its appeal seems to have been relegated to a decent-sized niche, and it certainly didn't move platforms.

I agree sales have been surprisingly low to advocates of LBP's appeal like me, but I'm also hesitant to draw a conclusion yet because of the whole release date and PR scew-ups. It's appeal with 'casuals' is definitely there when they're exposed to LBP. The question is why is it not selling? Because the existing user base is more interested in the conventional games at the mo'? Quite possibly. There's a lot of competition here! Or because of PR blunders, and reports of deleted levels, or total dross on the user created stuff? I was having this discussion with my mate about what LBP has got wrong and how it may impact their appeal. The game probably have done with a few months extra work. Whether they can turn it around or not, I don't know. But also the potential for turnarounds here is unprecedented, because they can add to the experience to build way more stuff and gameplay changing elements, beyond the usual extra guns and levels of typical DLC. It might experience long term growth. It might not. Too early to call. But the lack of a surge of interest at launch must be a disappointment to Sony.