Honestly. According to the latest pre-order chartz:

"Gears of War: Judgment (X360) added 7,431 pre-orders, up from 3,970 last week, for a total of 80,078. The game has fallen 903,000 pre-orders behind Gears of War III. The game is nine weeks away from launch in the USA, March 12, 2013."

For a series that is a very heavy front-loaded seller, why are Gears numbers so low? The 360 has a healthy install base, even while being outsold weekly globally by Ps3, in the US and continues to dominate the Ps3 there. Gears has always been a very popular US but I just don't understand these numbers. I haven't even done much research on what's been released on it, and I've still seen a lot of videos/gameplay/trailers released that looked pretty good. It seems like the same old Gears forumla we know and love, but with added gameplay elements and twists to keep it interesting. Plus the story might actually be the best in the series now that grumpy ol' Marcus Fenix isn't the main protagonist. 

Will GoW Judgement pick up???

It has me baffled. I didn't expect Gears 3 numbers by any stretch, but this is just strange. Doesn't it feature one of the more popular characters? I feel kind of bad for People Can Fly.

How much marketing has Microsoft and Epic put behind this game?

I will dust off the old slushbox and grab a copy, but I agree I have not heard squat on the new gears.

because it is viewed as a spin off. i'm not paying attention to the pre-order chartz but GoW:A will probably have a similar fate.

Maybe people are waiting for reviews/more info as a different studio is making it and don't want to preorder in case they screw it up.

As a person that played GeOW 3 and enjoyed it, I have no interest in picking up this game and I think the casuals are the same way. It's a prequel with a different character and from what I've seen looks like a milking of the franchise. Of course a die hard GeOW fan will point out how it's actually the best but the huge casual crowd doesn't think that.

Microsoft hasn't started advertising it. It may get delayed actually because I still don't have any requests for advertising or media for this game and my company tends to receive bookings for game advertising well in advance. For exmaple, I know the date when Nvidia Shield is launching as they have already booked ads for the launch.

Makes me think that Gears series needs Microsofts budget and promotion more than Microsoft needs Gears series.

Wow, I expected lower numbers but not that low

I guess there hasn't been much publicity for it, especially now that Cliffy isn't there

I personally think that I will buy it, but I am no rush to go and pre-order it. There isn't a huge sense of excitement, just inevitability of it being another great game and hopefully there are many others like me, or else this series might just die...

But God of War Ascension is doubling the pre order numbers for Gears. How can you just ignore that? Especially in a 360 dominated US market.

Actually GoW:A has been doing decent with the pre order numbers. The beta and all the marketing and bundling is helping it take some spot light. It is the first to have multiplayer and it is actually pretty good. IGN posted a 30 minute single player video and I must admit that the game looks pretty damn epic. I was surprised actually, they are pushing the limits. It is probably going to be the best GoW, even if it is a prequel. It's hard to grab much attention not being a sequeled release but it seems to be doing a pretty good job.