Sales Battle of the Day

Gears of War vs. Gears of War 2

Description: The Gears of War franchise has become a huge success on the Xbox 360 this generation, becoming the most successful exclusive new IP on either HD platform. After Gears of War became a hit, the anticipation for the second game in the series was huge, resulting in one of the biggest first weeks for a game this generation. After the huge launch however; sales for Gears of War 2 have slowed down and after a year of release it still trails the original game by ~600,000. So will Gears of War 2 ever be able to surpass the sales of the original game, and exhibit signs of growth for the franchise, or is the Gears franchise a franchise that will have peaked with its first release? Vote in the poll then leave a comment letting us know what you think.

What does everybody else think? Even if you think Gears of War 2 will eventually pass Gears of War, are your surprised by how long it has taken considering how strong the game launched, or has the game sold around your expectations?

Thanks for trying to give some life to this thread coolbeans.


With the success of the first Gears of War it seemed like Microsoft found another franchise that could become nearly as successful as Halo. But 53 weeks after Halo 2 released, it had already outsold Halo's total sales whereas Gears of War 2 is ~600k behind the original Gears. So why was Halo 2 able to rapidly grow the franchise whereas Gears 2 will be battling to match the sales of the original game? Also do you think the fact that Gears 2 has not yet matched Gears' sales that means there is not much room for growth in the franchise?

I think Gears 2 will come out ahead. It's still pacing well ahead of the first game.

I do think that Halo is more accessible than Gears of War, and that's coming from someone who is a fan of both series. Gears requires the utmost patience in single and multiplayer as in, if you try to play it like Halo, you will crash and burn quickly. The only way I can see the franchise significantly increasing is if Gears 3 comes out on the next console and is some mindblowing experience that makes it "the game to have" (and is hyped out the wazoo, a la Halo 3) on whatever they call that console. Also, I'd say that Halo 2's multiplayer probably attracted some of those additional sales that the first game did not see.

I'll go with Gears of War 2.

It is pretty shocking how far it still is, though. It's a prime example of how large launches don't necessarily guarantee higher sales, as the sequel sees weaker legs. I'm looking at Modern Warfare 2 - people were extrapolating the sales from its first week (assuming it will have stronger legs than MW1, even), I think they're in for a big disappointment.

Nice posts both themanwithnoname and c0rd.

While Gears 2 is still outpacing Gears if you compare them from launch, but if you compare equivalent weeks Gears is now ahead. For ex this week is Gears 2 53rd and sold ~14k, in Gears' 53rd week it sold ~20k. So it will be interesting to see if that equivalent week gap continues to get larger, if it does Gears 2 will have a hard time surpassing the original Gears. Especially if Gears 1 can continue to sell even just 1-2 thousand each week.

I still need some more votes and comments please.

I hate to keep bumping my own thread, but I still need more votes and especially comments. I'm surprised more people aren't interested in this thread I feel like it is a pretty interesting comparison. The poll isn't as one sided, but so far the comments have all been in support of Gears 2, does anybody who thinks Gears will remain in the lead have a comment?

Im pretty sure Gears 2 will sell more in the end, though it looks like its going to be a while if those numbers are anything to go by. Im thinking that over the 2 months it should do another 2-3 hundred thousand, while 1 will do much less, putting 2 closer then a year away. Its still selling good at 40$, im also expecting a small bumb when it gets to 30$. The first is going to finish a little bit above 6 million, a major achievement ' Pun intended'. The first was launched as a must have for 360 owners, it was the first big shooter on a console that was expected to house the biggest of them all. Im mindful that Graw came out before and has sold more then 2 million, no small feat, but Gears 1 was setup to be the first big Christmas title of the 360s life, the 360 launch was enough to propell its 05 xmas life, as the launch titles were a bit lacking. Perfect Dark Zero was a disappointment, but still sold over 1 million. Gears 2 was launched a year after Halo 3, a game that still sees more online play then Gears 2, and COD 4 Modern Warfare, a game that became a juggernaut that nobody really saw coming. Gears 2 also launched in the same month as with COD 5 WaW, a game that was also highly anticipated, So instead of Gears 2 being like Gears 1 in that it did not have a title in the same genre coming out at the same time fighting for peoples dollers it had a big game against it. Im sure that if Cod 5 had come out at around the same time or been as big of a deal more people would have bought Gears 2. The one thing that I think Gears 2 will be Judged by is that it launched on the 360 with a much bigger install base then 1, a stat that is always being brought up in Wii forums, but that is another topic for another day. I personaly loved both but prefer 2, In my opinion it is more enjoyable online and when playing co-op, it feels more polished, 1 was a little rough around the edges but still great. I would love it if you had another sales battle after the holidays, that way we can see where we are.

Ha, yeah. You'd think a sales site would have more interest in sales, eh?

I like comparisons like this especially, as it shows us the "sequel trend" that many follow. I've been keeping an eye on this one...