Analyst: Gears and God of War prequels 'significantly underperform'

Two console-exclusive "of War" prequels released last month, as both Microsoft and Sony attempt to milk their biggest franchises one more time before the next generation begins. And sales are likely to fall short of both franchises' last numbered entries.

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Two console-exclusive "of War" prequels released last month, as both Microsoft and Sony attempt to milk their biggest franchises one more time before the next generation begins. Critical reception for the two titles have been okay (but not great), but sales are likely to fall short of both franchises' last numbered entries.

According to GI.biz, Cowen & Company expects Gears of War: Judgment to sell around 425,000 copies, well short of the two million units sold during Gears of War 3's launch month. God of War: Ascension is expected to sell around 360,000 copies, a far cry from the 1.1 million copies God of War 3 sold in its first month.

A number of factors could contribute to the dramatic drop-off in sales. Both titles serve as prequels to trilogies that have "finished the fight," and may not seem as interesting as proper numbered sequels. Unlike their predecessors, both titles missed the crucial holiday window. Finally, both games received far less of a marketing push.

Perhaps Garnett was right--both these franchises went to the well one too many times.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    April 16, 2013 2:30 PM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Analyst: Gears and God of War prequels 'significantly underperform'.

    Two console-exclusive "of War" prequels released last month, as both Microsoft and Sony attempt to milk their biggest franchises one more time before the next generation begins. And sales are likely to fall short of both franchises' last numbered entries.

    • reply
      April 16, 2013 2:35 PM

      prequals aren't typically as interesting as another sequal.

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      April 16, 2013 3:09 PM

      The difference between the two though is that God of War sounds like it sucks and Gears is supposed to be pretty damn good. Oh well. I was done with GoW at 3. I enjoyed all of them up until then.. but now I'm done.

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        April 16, 2013 3:55 PM

        Gears is more Gears. If you like the Gears games, you'll like this one.

        God of War however, was kinda crappy. I only played until that stupid trial of archimedes thing and got frustrated with it, but it's buggy as hell and doesn't do anything new at all. I also made a point last time I talked about it, about how "quiet" it is. The older GoW games always had badass music playing for everything you did. This game does not. It just seems so..... mute.

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          April 16, 2013 4:27 PM

          I've spent too much time playing Gears of War 1, 2, & 3. Unheatlthy amounts of time. II don't like GoWJ. Honestly, I find it boring. To me, it's not even a Gears game, just another title copying Halo/CoD that'll collect dust.

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            April 16, 2013 4:33 PM

            Hmm, I hope they let People Can Fly do something totally different and their own next!

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          April 16, 2013 5:03 PM

          There's some kind of audio mix problems that are supposed to be addressed in the next patch. That's why I put off playing it, because I experienced the same things you were.

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      April 16, 2013 5:27 PM

      I prefer GoW over GoW

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        April 17, 2013 8:19 AM

        I agree with this guy. There is no contest between GoW and GoW. GoW is the much better prequel.

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      April 17, 2013 12:44 AM

      I think prequels generally are interesting, but no one cares about the dinosaur consoles anymore. Even the upcoming new iterations are not nearly as exciting as the independent progression PC dev's are finally having the balls to show.

      Stupid ass PC devs, you held us back for way too long by letting the consoles hold you back.

      Anyway, the point is: It's hard to enjoy any game on such ancient and ugly-graphixed boxes.

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        April 17, 2013 2:32 AM

        I think you are out of touch with what the majority of gamers want. I don't think aging consoles were the primary reason for the weak sales or other franchises would be affected in a similar fashion.

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          April 17, 2013 3:46 AM

          Agreed. I think it's more that there's just been too many of them over the last however many years, and then they went and made versions that don't do anything new, rehashing uninteresting parts of the story (at least in God of War's case, I can't speak to Gears) instead of showing the logical next time step the previous very successful title.

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        April 17, 2013 4:05 AM

        Go sit in the shame car with Crytek, sir.

        GoW demo controlled pretty bad. The whole weapon pick-ups and bad camera distance...
        I lost Kratos half the time and the bugs were so bad as enemies. Harpies and cerberus pups were a hindrance but they played well.

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      April 20, 2013 9:35 AM

      Gears of War didn't have a CE. That did it for me.

      I've bought every GoW CE so far - I'll wait for the Game of The Year version.

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