Those of you who were looking to continue the adventures of Marcus Fenix and pals in April of 2011 are going to be a little disappointed this morning as Microsoft curbstomps our hope with this bit of news. Perhaps realizing that their exclusive fall lineup was a little slim, the software giant has chosen to move the “threequel” to an unspecified date closer to the holidays. Of course, there could be speculation that the game is just plain not ready, but the Microsoft statement pretty much says that this is a marketing decision:
Gears of War 3 promises to be the biggest entertainment launch of 2011,” the Microsoft statement reads. “The teams at Microsoft Game Studios and Epic Games have done great work thus far readying the title for release in the Spring of 2011. However, we’ve elected to move the launch of Gears of War 3 until Fall 2011 to make it the marquee title for the holiday season.
Just when we thought that Microsoft learned to spread its titles out, this notion gets dashed. While I can’t blame them for wanting a big game to shill around the holidays, this just means that we’ll be waiting even longer to cut up some aliens. Gears heads can get their fix with novel series if they are really parched, but for the rest of us, some patience is in order. So, any opinion on the news? Do you wish Microsoft would have just bit the bullet and stuck with April?
Source – Kotaku
This is fine by me as it gives me time to get a 360 and catch up on games like Halo Reach, Mass Effect 1&2 and Gears of War 1&2! Your pain, my gain. 😛
Thanks Microsoft!
“we’ve elected to move the launch of Gears of War 3 until Fall 2011 to make it the marquee title for the holiday season.”
Translation: This is the only “hardcore” game we’ve got on the holiday slate for next year among a slew of kinect games.
I’m kidding, of course, but only a little. As a die hard Sega fan, I can tell you all about how putting tons of money, effort, and hope into a peripheral tends to work out.
Boo. Gears is a massive seller anytime of year. What gives?
Right, because ya know, Spring is not a good time to release a game because then people will have Summer vacation afterwards during which they’ll have plenty of time to play a game. Dumbasses.
I really don’t understand why game publishers haven’t wised-up to the fact that the Holiday Season gets bogged down with games not to mention other merchandise! The reason Red Dead Redemption did well was because it was pretty much the only game released on the threshold of Spring and Summer. Come on, guys! I’d rather all the publishers clamor for Spring and Summer releases than in the Fall! It just makes sense; I’ll have more time to play all of the games over Summer vacation!
Well, I’ll probably just rent Gears 3 b/c I’m not a huge Gears guy. I’m still kinda disappointed that it’ll all be lost in the chaos of the Holiday Season. And isn’t MW3 slated for Fall 2011? That’s some steep competition…although seeing how a lot of people hate MW2, I have a feeling that Gears 3 might actually do well.
Wait wait wait don’t tell me…..um…ok so the guy with the minigun is April amirite or amirite?
Although disappointed, I see the reasoning. Dragon Age 2, Dead Space 2, Bulletstorm, Portal 2, Crysis 2, Ghost Recon, Bodycount, Brink, and FEAR 3 all come out in the same quarter. I don’t see how they would want to release one of their big hitters around these games and not too long after people have shelled out money for Q4 games.
@ SK Beans
Gears 3 will crush all of those games. This is one of Microsoft’s premier franchises, the series that motivated a lot of people to buy their 360 in the first place. No serious 360 gamer is going to look at Gears 3 on the shelf and then decide to buy Brink or Crysis 2. Even the big games on your list won’t stand a chance against Gears 3 (sorry Valve fans). Besides, by the original April release date, most gamers will have already finished the games they got from the holidays and traded them in to place a preorder on Gears.
After some debate with several people, I think this move is to fill a big hole that Microsoft has in their Fall Holiday line up. No Fable, no Halo…I know something will be announced between now and then, but so far, there is nothing to hang their hat on.
[quote comment=”13767″]@ SK Beans
Gears 3 will crush all of those games. This is one of Microsoft’s premier franchises, the series that motivated a lot of people to buy their 360 in the first place. No serious 360 gamer is going to look at Gears 3 on the shelf and then decide to buy Brink or Crysis 2. Even the big games on your list won’t stand a chance against Gears 3 (sorry Valve fans). Besides, by the original April release date, most gamers will have already finished the games they got from the holidays and traded them in to place a preorder on Gears.[/quote]
I realize this, but it’s still a crowed market, why go for that window when you can get an open space in fall (note FALL, not winter when the game shitstorm happens)?