Analyst: New Gears and God of War titles underperforming

First month sales of Gears of War: Judgment and God of War: Ascension are lower than expected, according to Cowen and Company analyst Doug Creutz.

[ZainabSaccal]

The game lacks originality!! It is becoming redundant...

[zeee]

I know people love these games but really, they need to give these franchises a break and work on something else. And I am not talking about just GOW and GeOW, I am talking about a number of other games that we see almost every year or two. Call of Duty, Assassins Creed springs to mind as well.

[pierce]

Yep, Assassin's Creed is another one that could do with a rest. With the new Gears and God of War games it just seems like the developers wanted to push out one last title in the franchise before the next-generation gets here.

Edit: I still thought Judgment was pretty damn fun, though.

[silenius]

They need a break indeed.
I wouldn't say the god of war ascension as much as the gears franchise.
Love both very much but... I would like to miss them a bit.

P.S.
I think the reason why we got GOW Judgement was because Epic cancelled the kinekt title GOW Exile.

[SkidMudFlap]

Well i know God of war have diffrent game directors on every game, i can't say the same about gears of war though.

[nukeitall]

I for one enjoy Gears of War: Judgment and play it every chance I get. However, this is the tail end of the generation so people are saturated with cheap games. Not to mention two other great games just released, Tomb Raider and Bioshock: Infinite.

Maybe have these big titles release so close to each other was a bad idea.

[Good_Guy_Jamal]

So an analyst points it out and we are ready to discuss but Jamal says it a bunch of times and he's attacked with a barrage of disagrees and insults!
I said both games were doing less than great and I even lost a bubble for it. I won't mention where (platform) the most (almost all) the insults came from.

[refocusedman]

Uhhhhhh.......... why is Jamal talking about Jamal in third person Is the real question.

[HarryMasonHerpderp]

I doubt you lost a bubble for saying the games are under performing or the franchises need a break. You must of worded it a bit different to that to lose a bubble.

Anyway the franchises do need a rest in my opinion, Assassins Creed also but they won't be going anywhere anytime soon http://www.destructoid.com/...

[ChronoJoe]

I think people are ready for next gen too, and spin-off (weaker) offerings are certainly not what these publishers should be offering if they want to keep people interested in the series.

If God of War Ascension was God of War IV, I would have bought it. But as it's prequel and spin-off from the main story arc (which albeit may have ended considering the events of GoWIII) I don't feel I need to follow through and buy it.

They do need a break though, but what I'm saying is I don't think these titles being inferior spinoffs of the main series, really helped matters either.

[Blaze929]

Gears of War Judgement was a joke. I feel sorry for all those who thought it was like, the next real big game in the series. The fact no one was talking about it shows no one cared, even Microsoft.

God of War though is finished. I don't really think they should be making anymore nor should they have made a game after God of War 3. Was the perfect outro.

God of War Ascension felt so, pointless to me at the end. Sure it was a prequel but I felt I could've been a-ok, had I totally skipped this game.

[Why o why]

Tick

Tick

Tick

Full marks

Perfect comment describing franchise burnout or fatigue (cheers jamal).. luckily games, like uncharteds 3rd game, didn't suffer the same fate although it wasn't as good as the 2nd in many peoples eyes, it was still well received a didn't feel forced.

Best to leave both until the next gen sometimes. Give people a break, new lick of paint. I'm hoping both will return and despite what I said ill still be grabbing both of the titles mentioned for differing reasons.

[nukeitall]

I don't play God of War, but for fans of Gears of War like me, the changes was welcome and I now play it exclusively instead of Gears of War 3.

There were major changes, and I for the most part love it.

[WildArmed]

Yeah agreed.

I felt like after Gears 3 and God of War 3, both of the franchises had a perfect time to lay low for awhile.
Let the gamers recover from the fatigue and finishing the trilogy.

Ascension and judgement came too soon. Ending of the trilogy hasn't even sunk in yet, I already know how the war ends. I need some time.

Prequels after the conclusion should be faar apart (FF7:CC). Because at this point, it feels like too much of the same and not enough incentive to see what happens.

[EditorAtGNG]

Yep. It's not called a "cash in" otherwise.

All jokes aside though, I do think they need to go back on the drawing board with both games. God of War needs new setting, new storyline and maybe (just maybe) a new main protagonist (Kratos's story has been milked dry). The addition of mutlyplayer was the nail on the coffin for me, since, well, it shows just how the series stares at a dead end.

Gears of War needs to mix things up with something other than the cover system and chainsaw machine guns. Expand the universe, bring a new conflict or expand on the existing one.

So many roads to take and I bet they can really reinvent the franchises next gen.

[FunAndGun]

What about the whole other half of GoW:A....the MP?

I really don't understand why it is so overlooked. It is original, fresh, and fun. There has not been one single MP game like Ascension released this whole generation.

How is it milked when the MP has never been done before and it is something completely new to the GoW universe? It is also far from being tacked on.

Ascension has been in my PS3 since launch and I still haven't even come close to finishing the SP. I have been having too much fun leveling up my Gods, weapons, and armors.

Oh well, this has been my favorite Gow game because the inclusion of MP. With all the other GoW games I would have completed the game twice by now and put it on my shelf next to the others and most likely not touch it again.

[g2gshow]

true indeed but they already knew that last quick buck out the door what do you expect really the game ended with 3 supply an demand originality is still needed

[sway_z]

Both Gears and GOW need a new lease of life if they're to succeed next gen...or put them both to sleep for a few years until something refreshing can be formulated.

[axerated]

To be fair it's not like god of wars been overdone this gen. Ps3's been around since 06, it's now 13 and we've had two ps3 titles in this franchise, not counting the hd remakes of course. And Personally I thought ascension was awesome

[Good_Guy_Jamal]

You say this gen and then fail to mention PSP which IS a 7th generation console and games released on that system do add fatigue to the franchise. This is further exacerbated by the fact that those games found their way on to the ps3.

Besides, a franchise's fatigue isn't measured or determined by the number of releases on a single platform, the frequency of game releases is a bigger contributor here.

Now I know it causes people great anger when the HD remakes are counted in as GoW PS3 games, but the bottomline is that they are PS3 games, they especially add to franchise fatigue because they are recycled games.
There has been a God of War game or remake released or re-released in one form or another EVERY year since 2007:

God of War 2 in 2007
God of War Chains of Olympus in 2008
God of War Collection in 2009
God of War III in 2010
God of War Ghost of Sparta in 2010 as well
God of War Origins Collection in 2011
God of War Saga Collection in 2012
God of War Ascension in 2013

They may be on different platforms, but SONY has released and or rereleased a Kratos game every single year for 6 years in a row.
8 games in 6 years, that my friend is definitely a contributing factor to the under-performance of Ascension. That plus the fact that the main trilogy had already been wrapped up and a prequel already existed, made Ascension largely unwarranted.

Gears of War Judgement fails because they waited until they wrapped the main story up before releasing this prequel. That plus the fact that the last game came just a year and a half ago made it seem like a quick cash grab.
I'm glad neither game is a runaway success, publishers need to know that gamers don't want more of the same. Unless of course its Mario, hehehe.

[imsocool1234]

Jamal: Let's have some common sense here. There have only be 6 God of War games in total. The others are bundles or HD remakes which don't count

PS2:
God of War 1 - 2005
God of War 2 - 2007

PSP:
Chains of Olympus - 2008
Ghost of Sparta - 2010

PS3
God of War 3 - 2010
God of War: Ascension - 2013

[NYC_Gamer]

It's because both franchises need a break

[Condemnedman]

God of war has not been overdone gears tho should have waited till next gen .

[flappersack]

A pity. I bought both games and enjoyed them.

[HarryMasonHerpderp]

That's all that matters really.

[The Meerkat]

Gears:J had a great single player. But the MP is terrible.
What it made me do was buy all the DLC for Gears 3 and i've been playing the sh!t out of that for the last few weeks.

I had forgotten just how perfect Gears 3 was.

[TheRealSpy]

I loved gears 3, but i think Judgment is the better MP game (except the lack of maps). Better balance, smoother action, slightly faster.

[supremacy]

It could be a combination of things really and you guys pointed some out.

This is since Sony started releasing big games in feb and march other publishers have now taken noticed and done the same. Part of this also has to do with timing, COD can force any release out of the holiday season.

The result is one too many games to choose from, heck reviewers arent even taking their jobs too serious because of this.

I mean you got bioshock,crysis,tomb raidr, gears, god of war, and a few others cramed in. Sony was smart to move the last of us to june; i mean just imagine if GTAV did release in march? no one would eat lol.

If a game like COD can be dethrone, meaning it stops selling the way it does, then other games are likely to release closer to the holiday when they are supposed to.

Another thing i would add is, fatigue, i believe many gamers are getting tired of some of these franchises, especially at the rate they are being pushed out. And with next gen looming, some are probably wondering if some of these games will eventually arrive on next gen platforms, so are probably waiting to just go with the more impressive versions.

And personally, i preffer a good sequel over a good prequel and noticing by the sales of sequels vs prequels in games dating back to when this gen started you could see some evidence that supports my sentiment. Prequels are a escape goat to a great ending,when you know the writer or creator runs out of ideas.

[aman84r]

None of them was remotely interesting.Just something to fill in the gap.

[TheRealSpy]

I know a lot of women that feel this way about their husbands.

[abzdine]

no problem, they will just give them more attention next time.

[Realplaya]

To be honest i think it's all economics. I work in benefits and talk to people all day who have lost there job so they now have to pick up cobra insurance. For family medical coverage it's well over a thousand plus dollars. If you or your kid wants a new system or new games what's more important? This is why developers need to lower there budgets on these games. also they need to get back to making games with replay value without paying for dlc.

[IK IR Y IP T]

God of war is done unless they do a total reboot kratos story is told let him be immortalized before you tarnish his reputation. There are plenty other greek mythos they can do that would be great though ! Gears they should never have let people cam fly touch that game and microsoft needs to buy the ip before epic kills it but they have 2 wars and countless books and comics they can make games out of ... And i agree lot of these franchises need to take breaks but sadly the gaming industry is too dam expensive now to take any chances or risks on new ips so they continue to pump out what sells and i personally think people should not buy a new assassins creed game after 3 that game was a mess and before they could fix the game or apologize for it they are shoving a new one down our throat ...

[Jek_Porkins]

I don't think either game was put out with the expectations of the previous games. Gears 3 had a 3+ year buildup with a ton of advertising and demonstrations, Judgment never really had that. The campaign was awesome, but they really changed the multiplayer a lot, and it is fun, but they keep messing with the weapons and you're never sure which weapon is OP on what day?

It played a bit too much like a Unreal Tournament game, God Of War Ascension was also fun, the multiplayer might have driven some people off, but I'd say that the game is a typical God Of War game, fun, but nothing new to the table, just good ol' gore and fun.

New consoles coming could also put a damper on sales, we all know we are getting two new consoles later this year, and sales tend to suffer when that happens.

[Why o why]

Hmmm, I agree but I loved unreal tournament....

I'll be grabbing both regardless. Ps plus is causing a backlog I have to tackle

[Jek_Porkins]

I bought both, Gears Judgment on launch date, and a week or so later my local Gamestop had the Collectors Editions of God Of War Ascension on sale for $50, which was $10 cheaper than the standard, I guess they had too many that were taking up space, so I bought that.

The statue is plastic though, I thought it'd be of higher quality material.

[josephayal]

it's obviously becoming more and more popular for developers to milk a franchise or IP to death

[o-Sunny-o]

I enjoyed God of War Ascension enough said. Gears of War Judgement was no hype about that at all and seeing that the team that put the most in it is gone along with the good game modes.

[giovonni]

Well, as awesome as these games are; simply adding a fresh coat of paint isn't enough. Changes should be made, but not take away from what make them famous. Mario, Metroid, and Zelda, have seen changes, but didn't change the core mechanics. God of War and Gears of War lacks enough changes to keep that same awesome appeal. Not saying the games are bad, but it needs a shake up. we saw Metroid go from a 2d classic to a first person 3D master piece. Mario left the 2d and jumped into 3d, and Zelda went from a top view to a 3d environment. Another thing, the time frame of release wasn't as close as it is now. Which, gave it time to be missed, but also the time off gave developers the space to focus, retune, change, or add to recreate something better.

I'm not saying there should be cheesy retuning like ... C.O.G Cart Racing, or God of War Spartan Dodge Ball. However, Kratos could use a few new moves and the ability to maim foes at any given time using a combo of buttons with out triggering quick timed events, hell some boss fights should depend on the ability to maim aside from quick time sequences. Gears of war could use environmental effects and kills. Locus gets close hit him with a brick, pipe. How about a bomb thats well placed the impact blows your foe back into objects he is either impaled, falls to their death (depending on the height, and energy) how about it knocks trees down on you or your foe, use the environment to your advantage.

[ginsunuva]

Prequels. Only mgs3 can do it right.

[maniacmayhem]

I played both games and returned both of them. Gears:Judgment was okay and added a few nice details but overall it was nothing extremely different or anything we didn't get in 3. I think having it be a prequel hurt it also since they couldn't really go all out with different weapons and a lot more different types of enemies.

What they should have done was wither set it a couple years after OR focus on another group during the same time as the Marcus story. Maybe tell the story of a different group on the other side of the country/world. That way we can have different weapons, new story and different types of enemies.

GoW:A was of course a gorgeous game, with tight controls and breathtaking cinematics. But I have to be honest after playing 1 thru 3 and the first psp game, nothing about the gameplay has changed at all. The story of Kratos has become very boring now. We get it, he's mad at the Gods and every god under the Greek pantheon wants him dead. But we already know how it turns out so a prequel is kind of pointless and didn't hold my attention.

It's time for Kratos to move on and maybe fight some other class of gods or warriors.