MS: 'Gears' Demand Second Only to 'Halo 2'

Can Gears of War topple the mighty Halo 2? Probably not, but according to Microsoft the game has been in very high demand, second only to Master Chief's last outing in terms of presold copies and support from retailers. More within...


It's no secret that Microsoft Game Studios (MGS) is positioning Epic Games' Unreal-powered shooter Gears of War as the game for Xbox 360 owners to pick up this holiday season. In fact, even as early as this year's E3 Shane Kim, head of MGS, told us, "I do think that Gears of War is going to be that next big blockbuster."


Well, it appears that everything is going according to plan. Kim informed Reuters that demand for Gears of War has been so high that it's only second to the blockbuster Halo 2. As you may remember, Halo 2 set a record with day-one sales of $125 million. The game had pre-orders of 1.5 million and an additional million copies were sold in its first day of release.


Kim would not say exactly how many copies of Gears have been presold, but it's obviously quite high. "I can say that the demand, at least in terms of pre-orders and support and demand from retail partners, has been outstanding all over the world," he commented. "For Microsoft Game Studios it is the number two behind only Halo 2. That's a significant number."


So can Gears do the unthinkable and match or even topple Halo 2's numbers? There's certainly plenty of hype. As Reuters points out, a Google search for the game churns out well over 7 million results, which is apparently about 25 percent more than a search for Halo 2. That said, Halo 2 had the advantage of being released three years into the life of the original Xbox and gamers were clamoring for more Halo action, whereas Gears is a new IP, comes with a heftier price tag ($59.99) and is being released only one year into the life of the 360.


As Kim pointed out, "It's very unfair to compare any title to Halo, which is arguably the biggest franchise in our industry today. Halo 2 is just an unfair comparison for any title because that was just a different animal."


Nevertheless, he does expect Gears to have a significant impact on the success of 360 and Xbox Live. "In the same way that Halo 2 really drove Xbox Live and Xbox Live subscriptions, we think Gears of War will do the same for the Xbox 360," he noted. "We feel great [about] where we [are] going to be at the end of this holiday."


Kim went on to say that Gears is part of a two-pronged approach for Microsoft, as he stressed the importance of Rare's Viva Pinata, which the company hopes will bring more young gamers to the 360. "We intend to win this generation," Kim said regarding the competition.