X10 Release Dates

[ErnstH]

During X10, Microsoft gave concrete information on the release dates of a few upcoming titles:

• Splinter Cell: Conviction (April 16)
• Alan Wake (May 21)
• Dead Rising (September 3)
• Fable III (before christmas)

Interesting list, combined with the already released titles, 2010 is already shaping up to be a nice year! Other noteworthy releases are of course FF13 (March), Halo:Reach and Natal. I guess the latter two will get firm dates during E3.

 

[infinity4]

We should expect Gears of War 3 as well this year.

1 = 2006
2 = 2008
3 has to be 2010

 

[xexuxjy]

Are they likely to want a Gears3 release the same year as Halo Reach? would be pushing it I think.

 

[Rangers]

Are they likely to want a Gears3 release the same year as Halo Reach? would be pushing it I think.

Seems very unlikely. MS is not going to put big marketing dollars behind two similar shooters in the same season imo.

Gears 3 is definitely in an odd kind of limbo. Cliffyb tweeted something about big news soon too, so I dont know...

I've even considered it could go multiplatform. But most likely, it will simply be 2011.

That also makes sense from the standpoint that it seems to be a bit of a franchise reboot, and the extra dev time would likely be welcomed.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Are they likely to want a Gears3 release the same year as Halo Reach? would be pushing it I think.

I don't see a huge problem with Halo Reach in September and Gears 3 in November. Definitely not in the same month though.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Are they likely to want a Gears3 release the same year as Halo Reach? would be pushing it I think.

As Dr. Evil said, a couple months seperation might be enough to alleviate buyer congestion (say Reach in Sept and Gears in Dec.), however I think a much better plan would be Reach this year and Gears in 2011. Even with 2 months seperation, there's still going to be huge cannibalization of sales, especially with a Halo main title usually having really long legs.

Looking ahead I don't see any AAA shooter prospects for 2011 other than maybe CoD: WaW 2 or MW 3? Which would be a good time for Gears 3. Then again, if it's MW3, that would be a hard one to go against.

Still looking back at holiday 2009, L4D still did good numbers even going against a juggernaut (MW2). So perhaps there's room on X360 for 2 blockbuster shooters.

Regards,
SB

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Yes, Modern Warfare 2 has pretty much killed off any competing shooters this past holiday as well.
If you release two big titles in similar genres, only the most hardcore fanbase will buy both; but if you release one per year, you can count on every one of them to get it.

Activision's just learning this lesson with Guitar Hero this year, too.

 

[eastmen]

We also learned no Alan wake for the pc. So its a 360 exclusive.


Though I will not be buying it on the 360 now.

 

[bkilian]

We also learned no Alan wake for the pc. So its a 360 exclusive.


Though I will not be buying it on the 360 now.

Because...?

Lot of good games coming this year looks like.

 

[RobertR1]

Lot of good games coming this year looks like.

Absolutely.

Crackdown 2
Halo: Reach
Fable 3
Splinter Cell
Alan Wake

Also it would seem that "summer of arcade" has been moved to spring this year and renamed "Arcade Block Party"

The titles are:
Toy Soilder
Perfect Dark
Scrap Metal
Game Room

Easily the best year for the console.

 

[eastmen]

Because...?

Lot of good games coming this year looks like.

I wouldn't have gotten it for the 360 to begin with. Rather play it on my pc and enjoy higher resolution with fsaa and other features.


My biggest mistake was buying oblivion on the 360 instead of pc. I didn't make the mistake with fall out and I wont make it again in the future.

Though i'm sure they are still making it for the pc just wont come out for awhile after all.

 

[Squilliam]

As Dr. Evil said, a couple months seperation might be enough to alleviate buyer congestion (say Reach in Sept and Gears in Dec.), however I think a much better plan would be Reach this year and Gears in 2011. Even with 2 months seperation, there's still going to be huge cannibalization of sales, especially with a Halo main title usually having really long legs.

Looking ahead I don't see any AAA shooter prospects for 2011 other than maybe CoD: WaW 2 or MW 3? Which would be a good time for Gears 3. Then again, if it's MW3, that would be a hard one to go against.

Still looking back at holiday 2009, L4D still did good numbers even going against a juggernaut (MW2). So perhaps there's room on X360 for 2 blockbuster shooters.

Regards,
SB

Actually the Xbox 360 can probably support 3 blockbuster shooters at once.

2007 it was Halo 3 + Call of Duty 4 + Bioshock.

2008 it was Gears 2 + Call of Duty 5 + Left 4 Dead.

2009 it was Halo: ODST + Call of Duty 6 + Left 4 Dead 2.

2010 it could be Halo: Reach + Call of Duty 7 + Gears of War 3.

The one who ought to be concerned about canibalism isn't Epic or Microsoft, its Activision. Im sure people have worked out by now that Call of Duty Vietnam or whatever != Modern Warfare. Halo: Reach is more likely to dine on the Call of Duty userbase than the people who would have otherwise bought Gears of War.

They could release Halo in Sept/Oct, Call of Duty in October/November and Gears of War in early to late November, because Gears is a game which will have most of its sales in the first few weeks anyway. Of course alternatively they could release Gears in 2011 and give their Gears swan song another year in the oven.

 

[RobertR1]

Gears is on a different level of "blockbuster" thant he 3rd titles you mentioned. It's a 5million + seller where are the other might be in the 2.5 range. It needs the breathing space and marketing campaign.

Having said that, I'd love to see Gears 3 this Nov. On the downside, the next few years in gaming would look lame compared to 2010.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Actually the Xbox 360 can probably support 3 blockbuster shooters at once.

2007 it was Halo 3 + Call of Duty 4 + Bioshock.

2008 it was Gears 2 + Call of Duty 5 + Left 4 Dead.

2009 it was Halo: ODST + Call of Duty 6 + Left 4 Dead 2.

2010 it could be Halo: Reach + Call of Duty 7 + Gears of War 3.

Well Josh already mentioned it with regards to blockbuster, but on the level of Gears I would redo that list to.

2007 - Halo 3, COD: MW
2008 - Gears 2, COD:WAW (not nearly as much competition as MW was for Halo 3)
2009 - COD: MW2 (ODST basically sold like an expansion, and L4D2 while good isn't on the same level)
2010 - so far only Reach is confirmed.

The other thing you need to take into consideration is that both the Halo series and Gears series are published by Microsoft. Usually a publisher won't want to compete with itself for sales. Especially when it comes to a potential blockbuster.

Regards,
SB

 

[Squilliam]

Well Josh already mentioned it with regards to blockbuster, but on the level of Gears I would redo that list to.

2007 - Halo 3, COD: MW
2008 - Gears 2, COD:WAW (not nearly as much competition as MW was for Halo 3)
2009 - COD: MW2 (ODST basically sold like an expansion, and L4D2 while good isn't on the same level)
2010 - so far only Reach is confirmed.

The other thing you need to take into consideration is that both the Halo series and Gears series are published by Microsoft. Usually a publisher won't want to compete with itself for sales. Especially when it comes to a potential blockbuster.

Regards,
SB

ODST still looks like its about the same league as Gears 2 only a little smaller, even if its just an expansion. If they can sell ~18M LTD with two releases in 2007 then ought to be able to do ~23M LTD split between 3 with such an increase in userbase size.

The thing with Gears 2 is that it really depends on when Epic wants to release rather than when Microsoft wants them to release it. They may want to go straight onto their next series for the next generation and thus may want to finish up Gears of War this year. Based on statements made by Cliff, they don't seem to like to spend too long on a single game. Even though Microsoft is the publisher, I would say Epic has the pants in that relationship.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

The thing with Gears 3 is that it really depends on when Epic wants to release rather than when Microsoft wants them to release it. They may want to go straight onto their next series for the next generation and thus may want to finish up Gears of War this year. Based on statements made by Cliff, they don't seem to like to spend too long on a single game. Even though Microsoft is the publisher, I would say Epic has the pants in that relationship.

Fixed the Gears number for you.

As to release date, yes, I'd agree that Epic have a pretty big say in that, but I don't think even they want to go head to head with Reach. I'd imagine hype for it is going to go into overdrive once the MP Beta starts in May. Even Epic knows that while Gears is a strong brand, it's still not as strong as the Halo brand.

If Reach is Sept., I can see maybe pushing a release in Dec. But even then it's going to cannibalize sales of each other.

We'll find out at E3 I'm sure. Personally I think it would be smarter for MS to release Reach in Nov. and keep it that much more in the public eye when Dec. hits. If they did that, it wouldn't leave a lot of space for Gears.

Regards,
SB

 

[NRP]

Shouldn't there also be another Ghost Recon and/or Rainbow Six game?

Edit:
Just saw the announcement for Ghost Recon Future Soldier. Fall 2010 with summer beta. Haven't heard much about this one. On a nostalgic note, I really wish Red Storm was still developing GR games instead of Ubisoft. Red Storm did a much better job IMO.

 

[Squilliam]

Fixed the Gears number for you.

As to release date, yes, I'd agree that Epic have a pretty big say in that, but I don't think even they want to go head to head with Reach. I'd imagine hype for it is going to go into overdrive once the MP Beta starts in May. Even Epic knows that while Gears is a strong brand, it's still not as strong as the Halo brand.

If Reach is Sept., I can see maybe pushing a release in Dec. But even then it's going to cannibalize sales of each other.

We'll find out at E3 I'm sure. Personally I think it would be smarter for MS to release Reach in Nov. and keep it that much more in the public eye when Dec. hits. If they did that, it wouldn't leave a lot of space for Gears.

Regards,
SB

Hype = overdrive = yes. I wonder what Microsoft has said to Activision in terms of when they will position their big games. I doubt that Activision would want to release on the same day as Halo and vice versa.

As far as Gears 3 is concerned it can release whenever it wants to within reason. It doesn't have to release during a holiday season at all really, they could easily release in Q2 2011 and as a 5M+ selling franchise it'll sell where-ever they decide to put it in the calendar year. From Microsofts perspective im sure they'd prefer it release in 2011 to bolster the lineup whilst they transition their first parties onto Natal and next generation games. Oh, Epic may actually have a game releasing this year anyway, a non Gears of War game. So that alone may push Gears 3 back.

I guess we'll know come E3 right?

 

[aselto]

Also it would seem that "summer of arcade" has been moved to spring this year and renamed "Arcade Block Party"

The titles are:
Toy Soilder
Perfect Dark
Scrap Metal
Game Room

Easily the best year for the console.

And this month we're getting Misadventures of PJ Winterbottm and Lazy Raiders. And in more distant future Fez and some other gems as well. XBLA is a shining star for the 360.

Releasing Gears 3 this year would be pretty redundant IMO as Microsoft already has Halo and the shooter genre is extremely crowded this year. Call of Duty as well as unproven/smaller titles such as Medal of Honor, Brink, Rage, Crysis 2... Realistically speaking, MS couldn't expect significant growth in the shooter market even if they released 5 AAA first party shooters; they need to concentrate their resources elsewhere (other genres and Natal).

 

[NRP]

Agreed. 2010 seems like it's pretty well covered.

Gears 3 in 2011 would be fine by me. 2012 is getting close to new console territory.