Support NeoGAF

[GhaleonEB]

PR just out - thanks CPaladino. I thought this deserved it's own thread.

Gears of War Hits 1 Million Units Sold and Shoots to #1 on Xbox Live

More than 85 Percent of Players Connect to Xbox Live, Driving New Gold Memberships by 50 Percent

As “Gears of War” continues to emerge throughout the world ahead of the holiday sales rush, the Xbox 360 juggernaut has sold an impressive 1 million copies world-wide in just its first two weeks of release—elevating the game to the fastest-selling title of 2006 and fastest-selling original Xbox game of all time.

The battle continues to rage on Xbox Live as well, as more than 850,000 unique gamers have engaged in 10 million gameplay sessions while unlocking an impressive 7 million Achievements. On top of being the #1 title on Xbox Live, “Gears of War” has also driven new members to the network, as paid registrations per day have skyrocketed more than 50 percent since the game’s launch.

Propelling its rise to popularity, Gears of War has been crowned the best next generation game of the year by over 45 publications, earning a 95 percent average review score as tracked by www.gamerankings.com. Critics everywhere overwhelmingly agree and have united to make “Gears of War” one of the best-reviewed games of all time.

“From the very beginning, we knew ‘Gears of War’ would be an industry-defining hit,” said Shane Kim, corporate vice president at Microsoft Game Studios. “As we watched both the game and its hype grow, it became obvious that ‘Gears of War’ was the rare title that could live up to such incredible anticipation, and judging from the reaction of critics and fans, it’s done just that.”

http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2006/11/21/539037.aspx

 

[Dunpeal]

Already? Shiiiit

 

[Karma Kramer]

Wow 50 percent increase in Xbox Live Gold subscriptions is substantial. Now we need to know how much Gears boosted hardware sales.

 

[Resident Guru]

These number seem very impressive for a 1 yr old console.

 

[SHARKS BITE KILL SHARKS]

nice

 

[mikeGFG]

Dayum.

 

[IJoel]

HA, I just called it this morning in that other thread!

Well deserved sales. CliffyB is holding up his 'playa' title quite well. Bling bling galore!

 

[border]

Wow 50 percent increase in Xbox Live Gold subscriptions is substantial.

"New subscriptions" are up 50%, not the total number of subscriptions.

I wonder what the Halo 3 Beta will do though

 

[lollerskates]

already??

 

[jedimike]

Can someone at MS quantify the 85% statement.... is that 85% of Xbox owners, 360 owners, or Gears of War owners? Either way, it's damn impressive.

 

[cvxfreak]

How can Gears be the fastest selling game of 2006 worldwide when FFXII and Pokemon DP were released in Japan earlier and achieved higher numbers in a shorter time frame? Unless fastest selling in 2006 refers to the US or Europe.

 

[mood]

Holy shit. This is a ****ing new IP too.

 

[Mrbob]

I wonder what the breakdown is per region.

Probably 900K USA 100K Europe.

 

[SpacLock]

Such a badass game.

 

[Goreomedy]

How can Gears be the fastest selling game of 2006 worldwide when FFXII and Pokemon DP were released in Japan earlier and achieved higher numbers in a shorter time frame? Unless fastest selling in 2006 refers to the US or Europe.

It's the fastest selling Gears of War title in 2006!

Congrats, Epic, on your success.

 

[Sean*O]

Excellent!

Epic could turn out to be Xbox 360's Squaresoft with this release.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Can someone at MS quantify the 85% statement.... is that 85% of Xbox owners, 360 owners, or Gears of War owners? Either way, it's damn impressive.

It says 85% connected to Live, and then later 850k unique users played over Live. So I think it's referring to the proportion of Gears owners who have played online.

 

[rage1973]

PR just out - thanks CPaladino. I thought this deserved it's own thread.



http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2006/11/21/539037.aspx

Very impressive and very well deserved for my GOTY.
Someone bring up that old thread about Gears of War sales predictions so we can have people eat some crows.

 

[GhaleonEB]

How can Gears be the fastest selling game of 2006 worldwide when FFXII and Pokemon DP were released in Japan earlier and achieved higher numbers in a shorter time frame? Unless fastest selling in 2006 refers to the US or Europe.

Gears is not out in Japan, so they're probably talking US/Europe.

 

[FightyF]

Can someone at MS quantify the 85% statement.... is that 85% of Xbox owners, 360 owners, or Gears of War owners? Either way, it's damn impressive.

85% of Gears owners.

cvxfreak: the wording states it's the fastest selling because it sold a million within two weeks worldwide. So they could be mistaken. How much did Pokemon and FF sell? Considering their respective console/handheld userbase size...they could easily break GoW's record.

 

[Link]

Nice, game totally deserves it.

 

[Dahbomb]

FFXII sold like in the range of 2 million in about a week or so in Japan.

^^ That's to the guy asking for FFXIInumbers.

 

[Gahiggidy]

Well... what else are they gonna buy?

 

[mm04]

Very impressive and very well deserved for my GOTY.
Someone bring up that old thread about Gears of War sales predictions so we can have people eat some crows.

Oh, yes. Somebody bump that thread or something. I remember a few people in there saying that CoD3 was going to beat it out in sales. Get on it, stat!

mm04

 

[Striek]

Interesting. What were the first-month sales of Fable for comparison (highest selling Xbox IP other than Halo)?

 

[Karma Kramer]

Well... what else are they gonna buy?

Rainbow Six Vegas
Viva Pinata
Call of Duty 3

All games which were released recently and got good scores.

 

[AlanHemberger]

Well... what else are they gonna buy?

Can I use that same line when we get the sales numbers for Zelda?

 

[GhaleonEB]

Well... what else are they gonna buy?

you know the news is good when Gahiggidy graces the thread with his damage control.

 

[Mar]

Wow, very nice and well deserved.

Spoiler

In before the Zelda TP comparison for Gamerankings

 

[brocke]

Well... what else are they gonna buy?

nothing. that's an element in the increased sales of gears of war soo fast. there just weren't enough mass market appealing games before gears came along for the 360.

 

[jetjevons]

Can someone please find the Gears sales prediction thread and start handing out some much deserved crow.

K thx bye

 

[jimbo]

Can I use that same line when we get the sales numbers for Zelda?

Well if you did, there would be a lot more truth to that statement in that scenario than in this one...unfortunatelly you would get banned.

 

[Resident Guru]

Well... what else are they gonna buy?

I think you're confusing Gears with Resistance my friend.

 

[jett]

Seems the guy that said MS was waiting for the game to be released in Europe was right.

 

[mood]

Can someone please find the Gears sales prediction thread and start handing out some much deserved crow.

K thx bye

Yeah, where are the people that thought COD3 would sell better than gears?

 

[Ryudo]

Crow eating is inevitable on this one. This is really good news for the epic/ms alliance, all it takes is one big game (ala kotor and the bioware situation).

Woot ! I just got the game in my letter box ! (23rd november release date here in australia).

 

[Subitai]

Woot! Now how long before 2 million?

 

[brocke]

I think you're confusing Gears with Resistance my friend.

nah they both fit in the same category. the other fps's on 360 were not targeted at the mass market. too many overly tactical shooters.

 

[TheGreatDave]

Gears is totally not my kind of game, but I bought it and I've fallen in love with it. They've just got everything about it right, it manages to be so accessible it's unbelievable. I'm not good at your action shooters, but I never get frustrated here, and I always feel like I'm in complete control. Never owned an Epic game before, but those boys done good.

 

[Mar]

I just realised what this will mean. If this is indeed accurate then Gears will have sold better than Zelda (and Resistance obviously). So top marks to Microsoft. They planned this one perfectly to take some sting out of the Wii and PS3 launch.

 

[mikeGFG]

Can I use that same line when we get the sales numbers for Zelda?

Well played, my friend.

 

[deano486]

With gears of war in europe you were given a free 48 hour xbox live gold trial card. You got one with call of duty 3 as well.

 

[rage1973]

Woot! Now how long before 2 million?

Sometimes in December. Should be at about 2.5 mil to 3 mil by the time the holiday season is over I am predicting.

 

[ethelred]

Gears is not out in Japan, so they're probably talking US/Europe.

Yes, but they said "worldwide."

Japan is, last I checked, in the "world."

 

[Sean*O]

What are the odds of this game doing 3+ Million by December 31? Any bets?

 

[raYne]

Didn't someone bet a ban/their accounts contrary to these numbers? Less than 500k or something?

Come on Wario, do your job.

 

[speedpop]

Yes, but they said "worldwide."

Japan is, last I checked, in the "world."

Typical Microsoft PR bullshit, what do you expect when their console is a less than stellar smash in Japan?

 

[AlanHemberger]

With gears of war in europe you were given a free 48 hour xbox live gold trial card. You got one with call of duty 3 as well.

It specifically says "Paid Subscriptions"

Live still doesn't count you as a Gold member with the cards. you can't download the Gold only demos and whatnot.

 

[dyls]

elevating the game to the fastest-selling title of 2006 and fastest-selling original Xbox game of all time.

Neither part of this makes any sense. But who cares, it's a hit, and deserves to be. I just can't believe we haven't seen any 'shipped vs. sold' comments yet.

 

[Shaved Moustache]

Well deserved, this game delivered on it's hype, something I didn't expect. In fact I wasnt going to get the game, I'm glad I did though I'm addicted.