Gears of War 3 Sells More Than 3m Copies in First Week

Microsoft and Epic have reason to celebrate. The highly anticipated end to the Gears trilogy - Gears of War 3 - has eclipsed 3 million units first week. This covers a period of 5 days in both Americas and EMEAA. This both marks 50% growth over Gears of War 2 and means that it outsold the first weeks of both previous iterations combined.

[fluffydelusions]

Nice

[-Mika-]

Ya hopefully uncharted 3 get those type of sales. Sony need to seriously hire the ad team at MS.

[xtheownerzx]

Thats great to hear. This is just more of a reason to pick it up now. Amazon here i come.

[EVILDEAD360]

Called it..in fact Ive been calling 3 million first week it since the game was announced

Salutes Cliffy and the boys at Epic for giving Gears fans what we wanted

Great news for an euqally great fanchise..

Evil

[xPhearR3dx]

@theonlylolking

Talk about an ignorant post. I've played 240+ games on my 360 alone. You listed 5. If 360 users only buy "pretty much" those games, than why is it "pretty much" every multiplatform game sells better on 360?

[M-Easy]

Didn't kinect sell more in the 1st week? So Kinect > Gears if sales is the only indicator of quality.

[darkequitus]

@M-Easy

Kinect is a piece of hardware if yo did not realize. At compare apples with apple. Furthermore, who is saying Gears 3 is better than [fill in the blank]? I am only reading a good game with sales to match.

[No Way]

You're own 'status' thing says it all, for you..

[Sometimes I say the craziest/stupidest stuff for the lulz =)]
Get lost, troll. Cause it's true, what you said was stupid. You're annoying.

[Dante112]

Great sales as expect. Bought my copy of GeOW 3 day 1.

Edit @ below folks: Hey, what's with this notion that PS3 exclusives don't sales well when time after time those same so called flops go on to sell over millions. Happen with GT5 and UC2. This year, LBP2, KZ3, Resistance 3 ("first" week sales, not even official). Need to cut it out guys.

[M-Easy]

That was in response to all the post below bringing up games from another console that supposedly dont sell. As if just because a game doesn't sell HUGE week 1 than nobody enjoys those games. I was just saying sales =/= quality. Is Blops really the best game ever?

[otherZinc]

What M$ has in its favor; Gears 3 is actually a great game & had Gears 1 & Gears 2 to do the lions share of Mkt for Gears 3.

If Uncharted 2 was worthy of the 30+GOTY awards it was given; then Uncharted 3 will sell Gears 3 numbers.

[Muffins1223]

not because of ads,its just the game is just so amazing :P IF they really want to sell more they have to have a better fps.Lest face it,FPS are the best selling games in north america(biggest game buyer)and sony is asian and they really dont know how to make good or popular western shooters that captures the consumers eye.Almost 75 percent of gears of war 3 sale's come from north america

[ShinMaster]

But design-wise and everything else is the same exact shit!

[fullmetal297]

But Gears 3 reach #1 in Europe and #2 in Japan. Explain that to us.

[Hayabusa 117]

@ theonlylolking

L4D? Battlefield? Oh I get it, your just picking shooters...clever!

So those are the only games 360 owners buy? So why is it exclusives AND multiplatform games sell most copies on the 360??? Clearly they're not just buying 5 games then...

...I know you're trolling because it's the only social interaction you get so enjoy it...

[Peaceful_Jelly]

@Hayabusa 117 I don't know from where you're getting your facts but outside of shooters all other genres always sell the most on the PS3.

Just name the game:

LA NOIRE? PS3
Bayonetta? PS3
SFIV? PS3
FFXIII? PS3
Star Ocean IV? PS3
Tales of Vesperia? PS3
DMC4? PS3
every Need for Speed game? PS3

Just google it yourself if you don't believe me. And about exclusive selling the most?

I think you should think about that again because most PS3 exclusives sell over a million even including niche games like Heavy Rain and new IPs like LBP and Heavenly Sword. On the Xbox only GeoW and Halo sell over a million and games like Alan Wake hardly reach the HALF a million mark...

[Kran]

Yeah.... Cause they did a great job with Alan Wake ¬¬

[hilyou]

not really cause gears always was that pop culture game (not that its bad). and 4 example big sean was at the nyc launch. and microsoft always puts their ads everywhere! one can remember when halo 3 was releasing! ah the good old memories! game fuel all the wayy!

[ShaunCameron]

@Peaceful_Jelly

Actually, not all genres sell better on the PS3.

Sports:
XB360>>>>>> >>>>>>>> ;>>>PS3

RPG:
XB360>>>>>> >>>>>>>> ;>>>PS3

Other (Music, Casual, etcetera):
XB360>>>>>> >>>>>>>> ;>>>PS3

Racing:
XB360 = PS3

[rezzah]

Nice trolling.

I didn't know the title said UC3 sold 3 million.

[PS3Freak]

Xbox gamers don't have anything else to buy sooo..

[jrbeerman11]

why are half the posts trying to make excuses for great sales? why cant it be that it is a fantastic game?

The beta showcased the much improved multiplayer to anyone that was on fence for $5 refundable preorder.

This game is great, people knew it before it was released, soooooo....... its selling very well. End of story.

I am sure Uncharted 3 will sell well too, I will be buying day one myself.

[Kaos_Vll]

What the fuck does UC and Sony have to do with this? Why even come into an xbox forum if you're not interested in said game.

[Dude420]

"Because 360 gamers have no other games"

What a stupid excuse. By your logic, PS3 owners don't have many games to play either since the majority of them buy Call of Duty, and all of the COD games destroyed the exclusive games in terms of sales.

[princejb134]

yes but theres more gears fan than uncharted fans out there
i love both games but word to mouth is the best advertisement out there

[PS3Freak]

Dude420

You think that the majority of PS3 gamers buy call of duty, but the reality is different.

The sales of PS3 exclusives aren't as dramatic as XBOX because there are so many more quality PS3 exclusives. We can't all buy every one, so the sales are spread amongst them.

Call of duty sells more on xbox anyways, so your logic fails.

[dcortz2027]

"Thats great to hear. This is just more of a reason to pick it up now. Amazon here i come."

Since when are sales a great reason to buy a game? Get real!

[PS3Freak]

Sub4dis

Someone is a little touchy don't you think, I'm just saying shit to piss people off, and clearly it works.

Besides that though, you do not have all the same choices, as you do not have a Ps3.

And no, I'm not 15, I'm in my twenties and I can afford to buy any game I want.

[CommonSense]

He clearly says he has both a PS3 and a 360. Why do you even contribute to a conversation? You claim you're in your 20s and yet you can't read. And, you claim you buy any game you want, and yet your excuse for PS3 games not selling well is because you can't afford to buy em all.

If you had both systems, you could enjoy even more games; but you're too busy being a fanboy and an apologist for Sony. How about instead of trolling a 360 article, you goto one of the articles that talks about a Sony exclusive selling 3 million in less than a week...oh wait..

[gamingdroid]

I see there is a lot of jealousy. This is an article about Gears of War 3. It sold well and deserved it!

Great games tends to sell well....

If you haven't bought it, buy it! If you don't own an Xbox 360, get one so you can enjoy this gem naow.

Go, go, go!!!

[PS3Freak]

Commonsense

I don't fit the demographic of a gamer who can't afford whatever game he wants(So when I say "we" I mean PS3 gamers and don't necessarily include myself). Many gamers are students who don't have the luxury of time or money for such things. Because of this, they have to chose from a few games. I make time, and have the money.

You're right, I initially did not discern the entirety of his post, as I kind of skimmed it over, but I see now that he also owns a PS3.

There was a sale on 360s when a store in the area stopped carrying consoles. They were selling off their inventory at a discounted price. I could have got a 360 for 50 dollars, but they were all sold out by the time I caught wind of it. I just can't justify buying an XBOX for full price, because it just doesn't have enough non kinect games. Especially since I own a PS3 and can play all multiplatform games on it. That is why you buy a console, right; for games?

[aquamala]

Black ops is the best selling game ever on ps3, the second best selling game ever on ps3 is mw2. Mw3 on ps3 has more than double the number of preorders than uncharted 3.

So clearly ps3 owners prefer cod over any of their exclusives.

[EVILDEAD360]

@ PS3 Freak

'I just can't justify buying an XBOX for full price, because it just doesn't have enough non kinect games'

LMAO @ Easily one of the most ignorant comments I've seen on N4G and that's saying alot.

Its clear from the comments that as usual, Gears of War's sales is eating certain people alive.

But, I commend many of the above responses for seeing through the silliness. The negative energy is strictly due to the silly console war.

Bottomline is that the usual suspects won't admit that Gears is simply a phenominal franchise that stands on it's own and millions of gamers proved with their wallets that it was one of the most anticipated titles this gen.

Evil

[No Way]

Really? Damn, I must have missed all those great multiplatform games..
Seeing as how there's nothing else to buy, besides Gears of War 3.

[Dee_91]

Haha im not surprised
gears of war was everywhere
from the mayweather ortiz fight to american chopper
congrats to cliff and the team
il be gettin it soon !

[Kurt Russell]

Gears 3 is one of the best games I've played in a loooong time. Great single player, great co-op and great PVP. It ticks all the boxes and delivers above and beyond what I expected.

I smell jelly.

[Vega75]

gears 3 is by far one of the best games i've played all year besides the witcher 2 and Deus ex 3. can't wait for rage,saint row 3,skyrim,halo,dark soul,ect release i'll be busy until ME3 rolls around

[Hayabusa 117]

@Peacefull_Jelly

Heres a couple of random games I pulled out the hat:

GTA IV
Red Dead Redemption
Dead Island
Deus Ex 3
Dead rising 2
Assassin's Creed(1,2, and brotherhood)
Prototype
Fallout 3
Blur
Saints Row 2
Madden 2012
DJ hero, 1 and 2
Enslaved
lego batman, Indian Jones, God knows what else
zumba fitness (whey hey!)
NBA 2k11
Rock Band 3
test Drive unlimited 2
Top Spin 3

I ruled out certain games that had a head start on the 360 (such as Oblivion and Mass Effect).

And here are a couple FPSs you already ruled out before the competition started:

Dead Space 2
Bioshock 2
Pretty much all the COD games
Bad company 1 and 2
Crysis 2
Operation flashpoint: Dragon Rising/Red River
Red Faction Guerilla/Armageddon
Warhammer 40k space marine
...

I think I'll stop there.

And I never said that PS3 exclusives don't sell the millions. I know they do. I'll take it from your comment that you compared PS3 exclusive sales to 360 exclusive sales and found the PS3 fell short, so you went for the arguement that PS3 exclusives still sell millions, even though I never said they didn't :)

[callahan09]

@ShaunCameron: "RPG:
XB360>>>>>> >>>>>>>&g t; ;>>>PS3"

What games are you using as an example here? The only RPGs that sell better on 360 are the Shooter-RPG's like Borderlands, Fallout, Mass Effect. And Fallout has been consistent in getting timed exclusive DLC for the 360 version. And Mass Effect 2 came out a year earlier on 360 as an, at the time, console exclusive for 360 with nobody thinking it was coming to PS3. Most non-shooter RPGs sell better on PS3. Tales of Vesperia, Final Fantasy XIII, Star Ocean, those types of RPGs sell better on PS3.

[PS3Freak]

No way

I can play all those multiplats on my PS3. Hence why I don't need an xbox.

[Treyb3yond]

Lol 80 disagrees by pathetic fanboys. Why can't these idiots just enjoy games?

[EVILDEAD360]

'The only RPGs that sell better on 360 are the Shooter-RPG's' 'Most non-shooter RPGs sell better on PS3. Tales of Vesperia, Final Fantasy XIII, Star Ocean, those types of RPGs sell better on PS3.'

LOL @ the internet ducktales that the 360 fanbase doesn't buy RPGs.

Out of the top 5 selling PS3 RPGs..all were multi-plat and 4 of the top 5 sold more on the 360..the only one that didn't was Final Fantasy XIII.

The funny part is Calahan uses Tales of Vespiria and Star Ocean as examples when BOTH titles sold more on the 360.

The other false claim is that the 360 only buys Shooter RPGs.LOL

Please find all the guns that are in Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age: Origin, and Star Ocean etc.

Not to mention the RPG exclusives like Fable, Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Too Human etc.

Just another failed attempt at pretend one consoles gamers outclass another.

The other funny part, is this all came from 'Gears of War sells 3 million copies'

But to correlate both topics..just like Gears..360 Gamers didn't buy RPGs like Mass Effect, Fallout 3, and Borderlands because they were 'shooters'..it's because they are great f-ing games..period

Evil

[jetlian]

second best series out sold sonys best series. MS sells more games period!

Some say rrod means the install base is the same well then your really screwed. 10 people that could buy 20 exclusives equals 200 whereas 10 people with 5 exclusives is only 50.

No matter how you look at it MS sells more

[WANNAGETHIGH]

Sony should get microsoft marketing team.

[gamingdroid]

People keep saying that, but it is targeted demographics. The Xbox 360 crowd tend to resonate with a certain type of games and MS keeps delivering those hits so it is no wonder it sells well.

[dirtrider]

lmao you think gears 3 sold this well because of marketing! maybe it sold this well because it has a fan base.

[Bigpappy]

Gears did not sell these numbers because of maketing. These early buyers are people who have played gears before (some from the beta) who were hyped long before any adds.

What actually happened here is Cliff figured out what 360 owners wanted in the next Gears (Better MP, 4 player co-op, Hordes...) and gave it to them.

[BlackTar187]

Dirtrider. I can guarntee Gears 1 & 2 had a major sales boost based on the Commercial and Gears 2 was pretty bad imho but gears 3 is awesome sauce. I won't post spoilers but its B**As*

[dirtrider]

i don't deny that blacktar, but my point i said earlier is still valid.

and for the record, i have yet to see one commercial for gears 3

it is a dedicated fanbase, marketing really doesnt matter. gears is a big franchise, nuff said

to bigpapyy, you are right man. well said +1

[BlackTar187]

Thanks for the reply. I didn't like Gears 2 a bunch of my clan and friends didn't either besides Horde mode. All that is better now and gears 3 is fricken awesome.

i also want to add to your below post about something zipper needs to learm.

I 100000000x agree with that zipper is one of my least favorite off all time now and they keep going farther into the listen to us make changes you don't want and tell you how its the future of something until now i really dislike them and will probably never day 1 any of there games again.

[Kran]

Ill say what I just said:

"Yeah.... Cause they did a great job with Alan Wake ¬¬ "

Seriously, Sony do fantastic on their own. Microsoft gives gamers some brilliant games, but only half of those sell well. Most are just sleeper hits SUCH AS Alan Wake.

Microsoft should have done more.

[dirtrider]

to kran- grow up you lil sony puppet. too many kids online these days.

[boommuffin]

@Kran thats because most people by 360s for the multiplayer experience not SP

[Kaos_Vll]

or maybe it's a great game?

I'm seeing all these ps3 comments and can only come up with that you don't own an xbox and wish u had gears. For a system that has SOOOOO many games you guys sure spend a lot of time trolling on the net.

Do yourselves a favor and have your mommies go buy you a 360. maybe than this place can start talking about games instead of the constant pissing contest that goes on here..

[RedDead]

The beta sort of destroyed alot of doubts I had about it, I didn't like gears 2 online, 3 I fuc*ing love

[humbleopinion]

@WANNAGETHIGH
Yeah, I guess it's the "marketing team" who managed to deliver 3 AAA games in the same series over a period of 4 years, all with 90+ metacritic score.

[2fk]

that's awesome gears 3 is definitely worth the money

[mcstorm]

I ahave to agree even though my gears has not turned up yet for some unknown reason i cant wait to play it. Thought geats was really good but gears 2 was abit of a let down and i think epic knew this amd have given the fans everything they wanted in gears 3. Fingers crossed it will be here tomorrow and i can see for my self what its like.

[miDnIghtEr20C_SfF]

Yep, definitely the way a great exclusive should sell. Good job Gears and MS!

[Anon1974]

As if there was ever any doubt. Gears is a monster. Even coming from VGChartz, I'll believe that.

[dirtrider]

hut oh dark, i am expecting you to pull out your "financial reports" and make excuses.......

[Prophet-Gamer]

Went out with bang in every sense of the word: Sales, content, and story. People say Gears' story isn't all that great and I used to think the same but after Gears 3, damn. Epic really outdid themselves! Seriously, I Gears 3 is so far my personal game of the year. I've put so many hours into already!

[BlackTar187]

Sales always first it seems

Sad it took them to part 3 to get a semi decent story. to say the story was spectacular is kind of selling it a little too much but its much better and imporved

[Death]

Karen Traviss, the author of the 4 Gears books, also penned Gears 3. If you enjoyed the story I highly recommend the books. They really flesh out the Gears Universe better than any amount of games could.

-Death

[Prophet-Gamer]

@death

Really? Gonna check them out then, iirc Traviss also wrote some Star Wars books I recently read, they were pretty good too.

[antz1104]

^ Above two:

I also read all of Karen Traviss' Republic Commando novels, she is an amazing author. The Gears books were actually next on my list.

You can tell she penned it. The part where Gary Jules "Mad World" song had a cameo almost had me in tears.

[zeddy]

thas a lot. its disapointing games like uncharted and resistance dont get these type of figures.

[andibandit]

Thats because the PS3 online community is like a graveyard.
Might as well buy those games second hand cause theres no urgency to get them Day 1

[lilbrat23]

That's cause there is nothing else to play other then camp a duty. lol I cannot believe they are charging $15 for weapons that should be part of the game. Freak that.

[jrbeerman11]

ugh, im sick of this statement, theres plenty to play on Xbox.

less exclusives yes, will not argue that, i have ps3 as well. love infamous, uncharted, demons souls.

But there are many many many great multiplat games available. mass effect, elder scrolls, battlefield, Red dead redemption, gta, madden, nhl, nba2k, vesperia, la noire, bioshock's, etc.

Gears 3 is fantastic, critically claimed, loved by many, and is selling great. deal with it.

[Jaces]

Congrats Epic, can't wait to get my hands on my copy. :D

[NegativeCreep427]

What are you? A shareholder? Why are these reports on Gears' 3 sales figures so "nice"?

I mean honestly, do the amount of units sold for a piece of software dictate how much you would enjoy the game? If so, then why the hell are there so many damn COD detractors on this site??? It all seems a bit hypocritical really.

[Morbius420]

It's important that a game like Gears sells well because that means there will be more ppl online to play with.

[airforcex]

For those commenting on software sales numbers:
360 sells more games. Yes, PS3 sells some types of games better than 360. But overall, including DLC, 360 sold more units in 2010.

Global:
http://www.gamepro.com/arti...

UK:
http://www.computerandvideo...

[tickticktick]

242 comments and 241 of those comments are crying about Gears 3 or talking about Uncharted.

Gears 3 just map topple Halo in sales.

[BeardedGamerShow]

Boy howdy, didn't see that coming.

[StanLee]

I don't think everyone gets the sarcasm. Or at least, I hope it's sarcasm.

[Machina]

Wow, go Gears!

[Kantor]

Wow, that's almost at Halo levels. I was expecting high sales, but not this high.

[hudsoniscool]

u wont say that when halo 4 does 5 million week 1.

[kthsdlr]

Knew it was going to be big, didn't know it would be this big.

[Red]

that's what SHE said.....

[RXL]

she might've said it to you but she screamed it to me =)

[iamgoatman]

@RXL

A lack of consent has that effect.

[kaveti6616]

haha, rape joke.

[Jac5al]

Not surprising considering the heavy marketing push, the hype, and the great reviews from the critics.

[Zechs34]

For sure! And let's not forget that the game really is Amazing!

[gamingdroid]

It is surprising that it outsold both previous games combined!

Many games struggle to match it's predecessor let alone outsell them all.

Gears of War 3 is a fantastic games and deserve it. Kudos to Epic.

[SantistaUSA]

Completely agree. This game is superb! That's all I've been playing since Tuesday, can't stop playing horde mode is just crazy addictive! I've bought the epic edition, first time I purchased a special edition of any game and gotta tell you it is worth every penny! :D

[dirtrider]

true droid, but it is really simple, all epic did was give the fans what they want, something that zipper interactive really needs to learn!

[JsonHenry]

Congrats to the dev studio(s).

[Omar91]

Deserves every but of sales

[green]

And it deserves everybit of commercial success because it is an amazing game. Great Job Epic and Microsoft.

[Ashby_JC]

Cant put my finger on it...

..but Im loving G3 much more then 1 and 2!!!

The improved MP IMO is what sets it apart vastly from the first two. What I hated was how long it took to find a match and when you finished a match it ust didnt continue with the same team/players.

[JeffGUNZ]

Yeah, the MP is flawless with the dedicated servers. It's so nice to play the game and not worry about host or whatnot, it's such a great experience.

[DeFFeR]

You never even know in MP when someone leaves if you don't watch the scrolling words... it just fills the spot in with a bot (at least the quick match games do... haven't played ranked).

[FragMnTagM]

@DeFFeR,

I believe all the online modes fill with bots if there are no players right away.

Every mode I have played so far has had bots if there are no players available, with the exception of beast and horde mode, but friends can join in on the fly.

[TheColbertinator]

Awesome game.The Retro Lancer is my favorite weapon so far.

[DeFFeR]

Agreed, but I wish they didn't nerf the crap out of it... it needs to be somewhere between what it is now, and what it was in the beta.

[Gabe EatsWell]

Congrats.

[bangoskank]

Bubbles for the avatar and username.

[Pacman321]

Both R3 and Gears 3 are great games yet gears sold 10x more than R3 in the first week. Maybe its due to how they marketed each game, or maybe because R2 was such a disappointment to many gamers it put many people off R3.

[fluffydelusions]

Or maybe because Gears has a huge following and Resistance not so much?

[Pacman321]

Seeing as the first Gears sold approximately 6 million and the first Resistance sold around 4 million, you would think that R3 would have a bigger fan base than it does now. IMO it looks to be down to marketing the game.

[gamingdroid]

I believe Resistance 2 also had low sales numbers, but somebody correct me. Maybe the original Resistance sold well because there wasn't much else on the market at the time?

It's Metacritic score all hovers around slightly above average. In today's competitive environment, I think you need a 90+ hitter to reach great sales.

So it's sales numbers seem to reflect it's reception.

I expect Uncharted 3 to do wonderful, which tells me consistently (historically) that great games tend to sell great numbers.

[dark-hollow]

"first Resistance sold around 4 million, you would think that R3 would have a bigger fan base than it does now. IMO it looks to be down to marketing the game"

just because an X amount of people bought a game doesnt mean that all of them liked it, and thus the declining in sales.

[Pacman321]

@dark-hollow
I never said all of them liked it. However out of 4 million people you would estimate at least 10% of them would of bought R3 in the first week, but that didn't happen. Stop twisting my words so people can agree with you. A lot of people that disagreed with me are probably just doing so because i may have said something negative about a PS3 exclusive sales. Well, i bought R3 on day one, and i bet the majority of people commenting here will get the game second hand.

[TheFallenAngel]

I haven't bought R3 but we have Gears 3 already. Im getting it in two weeks.

[DARK WITNESS]

I think dark-hollow nailed it.

what you point out about people not liking resistance 2, well not a lot of people liked Gears 2 either. Most will tell you that gears 2 online was a mess.

I own both systems and bought both games when they came out.

I actually hated both games intensely. If you had seen my posts on gears 2 you would have thought I was a ps3 fanboy trolling, and if you had seen my posts on R2 you would have thought I was an xbox fanboy...

the only reason gears got my interest again was because they said there would be servers for MP. Then the beta came along and I was willing to give it a try, that kind of sold me on it.

As for resistance 3, I just didn't see anything about it that made me feel I wanted to pick it up after how I felt about R2.

[maniacmayhem]

Excellent game and loads of fun.
Not to mention the campaign is multi also, that's how you do it.

[JellyJelly]

Yeah, 4-player co-op even! I'm amazed by the amount of content they are giving gamers. The multiplayer part itself is like a game on its own. Horde 2.0 is just mindblowing with all the tactical aspects.

[DeFFeR]

I love that they added a currency type system to it. It adds that extra "awesome" to the mode, and allows for alllll sorts of strategy - Do I risk my 12.5K on that silverback with the boss wave coming up, or do I fortify everything, get sentries, turrets and dummies?

Love Horde.

[death2smoochie]

Some people on this site won't be too happy to hear about this....lol

[bangoskank]

That's obvious by reading the posts in this thread. It's amazing how obnoxious some people can be.

[Sizzon]

Congrats to both Epic and Microsoft :)

[Dark_king]

Congrats to Epic not so much to MS but they did at least advertise the hell out of it.

[BLAKHOODe]

Agreed. I definitely send out congrats to Epic as they are one of my favorite developers. Microsoft, not so much, mainly because I figure they're behind the absolutely ridiculous milking of the game's weapons skin DLC. If that was Epic's idea.. FINGER OF SHAME to them, as well.

[m23]

I think it was thanks to MS we were able to get a beta, and they might have put in money to have the dedicated servers as well. I think Epic and MS make great partners, hopefully they come up with a new franchise for the next generation and do what they have done with the Gears franchise again.

[TheFallenAngel]

Congrats to Epic games.

[xtremexx]

Wow, Thats Amazing, Especially For An Exclusive

[ATi_Elite]

3 million in one week! Holy Shite that's Grand! i wonder how much it did day 1?

[danieldeath]

I knew it would sell well , but 3M in first week !!!! phew*

[towelie1288]

great game deserves great sales
i told all my friends to get this game lol

[YodaCracker]

Holy crap! Well, it was by far the most anticipated exclusive of the year, but these sales are even higher than I expected, and I expected big, big things.

[Excalibur]

The game is fantastic, do yourself a favor and get it if you haven't already, be a gamer not a hater. ;)

Con-grates Epic

[DiRtY]

stop this UC3 vs GoW 3 shit please.

Two great games. PERIOD.

I don't care what reviewers will tell - I am old enough to make my own decisions. Thanks.

btt:

Great numbers and well deserved. Awesome game.

[wumster]

I tell ya, people don't understand that if uncharted is good, and gears is good then gamers win.

[farrelljade]

Is it me or is there just not that many people playing online??? I dont think ive seen the total amount of 'execution' players above 5k whilst 'team deathmatch' totals seem to be at max 10k. Strange but still a great game.

[Excalibur]

Gears 3 has many online modes now, the user base is being split many, MANY ways now.

[farrelljade]

Yes that i do agree with, which by the way i dont think was a smart move by epic. It can sometimes take me quite awhile to get into ranked exe matches whilst unranked games are a lot quicker however players constantly leave when their not doing to good!

[JeffGUNZ]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think there is a country/region filter on. I may be wrong, but I thought I read they were doing that in this game.

[Hayabusa 117]

I honestly wish we could turn the region filter off. I miss shooting Americans in the face and hearing them whine :)

It's also annoying how quickly people leave after beating them: they're playing against bots for God knows how long, you join in with your friends, you make a comeback and win, and then they leave...so what, they prefer playing against bots then real people? I thought the only reason they were still in the game was because they were waiting for real opponents, but I guess not...

[Number_13]

And just like that, Gears 3 is the highest selling game this year so far in just ONE week.

[Chocoboh]

Well with Xbox360's only worthwhile exclusive coming out this year I'd expect it too.

[DARK WITNESS]

oohhh and which worthwhile ps3 exclusives are the ps3 fanboys going to be rushing to picking up? ... none because they will all be buying MW3 since it's sooo worthwhile.

[strickers]

Gears deserves to sell it's a good game but I doubt 3 million makes it biggest seller of the year.probably less than Zumba fitness or Just Dance.Sadly.

[Virus201]

Hey that was just in the first week. Will see how much they sell in a month or beyond.

[girlwithturn]

bullsh!t numbers.

[bangoskank]

bullsh!t fangirl

[girlwithturn]

All that can be irresponsible 360-fanboys -
jump to insults and change nicknames.
Tomorrow I'll make an American
monopoly, and paid for all the data.
You don't even try to understand
how Japanese manufacturers harassed in the U.S. Auto industry is enough to
recall, to throw mud in the media.

[FragMnTagM]

@girlwithturn,

UMMMMM, English please? That crap made no sense whatsoever.

[cliffbo]

write it in Japanese so that these Western fools can go out and learn Japanese as well as you have learned English.

[jacobie74]

way to go MS and cliffy b thats what im talkin about. this is for the home team

[RAmar101]

this is the 1st exclusive of the year and it happens to be one of the most popular franchises on 360, terrific numbers

its funny that 1 mega hit sales wise, they all come out from behind the bike shed

[sickbird]

Great sales numbers and a great game. Been loving the multiplayer so much i haven't even started the campaign. MS should really start paying more attention to the HC with more titles like this, these numbers further prove that xbox fan are thirsting for more mature games.

[sickbird]

why did i get disagrees? for saying the game is good and wanting more? this community is messed up.

[Virus201]

"why did i get disagrees? for saying the game is good and wanting more? this community is messed up"

Welcome to N4G.

[tonywood]

I won't leave you hanging....this game gonna get me to buy a 360. I'm down with PS3, but gears of war is a system seller!

NICE!!!!

[miDnIghtEr20C_SfF]

Why do you think you're getting disagrees? This is N4G, the Coruscant of Sony fanboys. :D Gears 3 is a great game, and everyone seems to love it.

[death2smoochie]

Because it's a Xbox360 game that's why ;-)

[FragMnTagM]

I believe this is why you got disagrees: "these numbers further prove that xbox fan are thirsting for more mature games."

I didn't disagree with you, but I don't think that MS is severely lacking in mature content either.

[A-Glorious-Dawn]

amazing! really want to play this game but can't (no xbox)
Please epic release it for PC!!!!!!!!!!

[A-Glorious-Dawn]

hmmm, oh never mind.......

[XabiDaChosenOne]

Congratulaysheons!

[Enjoigamin]

Why can't I have a vulcan... Such bullshit

[FragMnTagM]

What do you mean?

[SH0CKW4VE]

Just Completed it.

Great Story, Great Characters, Great MP, Great co-op modes.

Its the complete package and represents everything a great game should be.

[Evetssteve]

Only people who disagreed here are Sony fanboys who don't even own the game. Pathetic

[James Vanderbeek]

not taking anything away from gears 3 because i might just buy a 360 for this game. i loved gears 1 and gears 3 looks sick. but xbox owners be real the 360 has been on a major drought when it comes to exclusive games. I think sony has released 6 exclusive games or more since your last one.

I believe this is why gears sells are so well compared to some sony exclusives. I still need to buy killzone 3 and resistance 3. and i might even buy lbp 2. But i still need to beat a lot of other games i have before i do that. Socom 4 took up some of my time.

[tonywood]

AGREED.

Gears of War is a system seller.....just like Uncharted 3 will get 360 gamers to buy a PS3. I love games, so i will buy what's hott. It's just too bad companies are trying to take advantage of gamers...with all these accessories and online fees. (PSN and XBL)

[Aloren]

Outside N4G, people buy games because they love them and cause they want to play them, not because their neighbor can't play it.

The most likely reason why KZ3 and R3 sold less than Gears 3 is because they're simply not as great.
You'll see when U3 comes out that it will also sell millions more than R3 and KZ3.

Some games are just better and more popular.

[GTRrocker]

...or these sales just reflect that Xbox gamers play the same type of game... shooters.

[Aloren]

Yeah, cause it's not like 3 of the top 5 best selling ps3 games have "call of duty" in the title... this is just ridiculous, or even stupid. Check the sales of multiplatform games, the sales pattern is very close in most cases, except a few exceptions like PES on PS3 or fallout on 360.

Like it or not, 360 and ps3 players play the same games...

[TyrionL]

@ Aloren
I don't know why people try to make it sound like PS3 owners and 360 owners are 2 different species. What about those of us who own both? I agree with you, both parties tend to play the same types of games for the most part. Of course there are exceptions to this like anything else, but I find it funny when people generalize a whole group of people and try to make it sound like a FACT. If you look at the actual numbers you will see that we tend to buy the same type games.

[Aloren]

I played KZ2 and 3, and R1 and 2. Not 3 yet. I also played Gears 1, 2, and just got 3, and I also played U, U2, and plan to play U3 soon.
And I like them all, thank you, though these days I tend to spend more time playing on pc and psp.

But anyway, when a much more popular franchise gets better reviews, it sells better. That's common sense, and has nothing to do with having 206 games to choose from instead of 200. That's also why U3 will have a better opening than KZ3 and R3 combined.

[Evetssteve]

If this is true, then why don't ANY of the Sony exclusives have numbers like this? If this were the case, then 1 or 2 of the very best Sony games would be at or around this number, but they're not.

[Aloren]

What about GT5 ?

[MasterD919]

Gears 3 is a massive improvement over the first two games and is my favorite game so far this year. I'm sure a lot of people feel that way.

This is the 3rd game in the series so I don't get why all the haters are being ridiculous about it. You've had plenty of opportunity to hate on the last 2 games...move on. This game deserves some credit- its awesome.

[MasterCornholio]

And now they are at peace because they finally get their hands on the game

GG

[outwar6010]

hmmm i wnder if i should pick up this game played 2 campaign was okay but multi wasnt that great and i lagged alot but people are saying this one is better.....i will pick it up tomoz :)

[cedaridge]

no matter what u can't deny Gears 3 is a SWEET game and it is WORTH the money. NOW come on 11/1/11! psn: cedaridge / xbl: cedaridge

[tonywood]

For the record...I'm PS3. But, I'm gonna have to get a 360 for this.

[bangoskank]

Right on. You should play the first two as well. It's an excellent series. You'll be hooked.

[snowman2149]

and resistance 3 sold less thank 500K...

[Ascalon94]

so its still a really good fucking game?

[Jonah_Reese]

How does he have 5 bubbles And I only have 3?

[ME1989]

Congrats Epic. Well deserved. Best game you guys have released yet. They worked hard on it.

[A-Glorious-Dawn]

double

[digoutyoursoul8]

more sony people posting than xbox people, says it all really.

[JellyJelly]

And none of them are marked as "trolling". Tells you something about the N4G population, and its mods.

[CYBERHATER]

Congratulations Epic!! The game play is flawless, there is no lag and I'm speechless over this awesome game. Money Well Spent :)

[FlyShootRaceSims]

I can't wait to buy this game. I've been pretty busy with F1 2011 but now that I partly finished it, it's on bitches! Lol!

[bjh089]

cause they have all of like 3 exclusives this year thats why not counting kinect stuff.

Source - Fact

[Number_13]

so great multiplat games do not count as games?? Interesting.

[Evetssteve]

Then why aren't any of the Sony exclusives selling this high, or even close to this? Not 1

[linko18-1990]

people please don't hate on the game just because its a 360 "exclusive" sure it will be on computer later on, but we all must give credit where credit is due. Gears 3 is a great game, its the only gears i have actually played for more than 10 hours the other 2 i found them MEHH i didn't get the fuzz behind gears till now, but im pretty sure Uncharted 2 was a big influence in helping the game turn out better than the previous ones and of course the great developers that worked day and night on the game.

[aviator189]

Why do you think gears 3 will come to pc in the future?
Gears 2 still hasn't had a pc release yet.

[linko18-1990]

if the community demands it. it will surely come. MS and Epic are after the money after all. wat you think they want to please the xbox fan base for ever?

[ME1989]

They've been demanding Gears 2 on PC for years now. CliffyB already said it's not happening.

[Ascalon94]

as mainstream as this game is, is goes hard as f_ck

[Jocosta]

What is everyone arguing about?

[digoutyoursoul8]

just insecure turds trolling and people falling for it

[HaloSpartan]

congrats

[Stevefrench897]

Not a surprise, this game is a blast! Will hold me up until Battlefield 3 or uncharted!

[Toman85]

I dont understand UC3 vs Gears 3
Both will be great I can vote for it!
Gears Of War 3 isss soooooo much better than Gears 2, that game was just plain awful.

If I get this right
From UC1 and UC2 we saw a great improvement over UC1 in every way possible.
But with gears, Gears 1 for me was waayyyy better than Gears 2 that was a awful mess online and the graphics for me wasn't there, but how is that possible I dont know.

So for both games, best threeies of this year is Gears 3 and Uncharted 3, I win because I have Gears 3 and for sure getting UC3!!

[GTRrocker]

Good game, I recently bought a 360 so I can play through the Gears and Halo games. But there really isn't a lot on 360 to take away from Gears 3 sales around this time so these large numbers could be from that as well, just saying. Can't wait to play this though.

[banner]

Damn!! Ppl really hate when a game on a console they don't have sells well.

Missing out on a great game cause you rather sip that haterade.

[Killzoned]

PS3 or 360 fanboys or not, This is the type of sales PS3 exclusives needs. Am not saying Sales equal everything but Sales is ESSENTIAL for future series

I'll have to admit I love both consoles but I prefer the PS3, We just don't support our exclusives as much as 360 owners do.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Congrats to Epic on a fantastic game. Let's hope they will do as they did with Gears 3 on their next game and make a masterpeice again. Gears 3 truly is worthy of the Epic namesake.

[VforVideogames]

yep i got my limited edition this saturday and its the best gears of war by far , limited editions are hard to find now.

[bjh089]

uh because of what i said are you retarded. ps3 has so many frickin exclusives thats why the sales are evenly spread out no one has ridiculous numbers though still some pretty good at 5 or 6 mill like uc2. While 360 doesnt have that many exclusives so of course they sell amazing when they come out. If you dont understand that simple logic than you are just plain stupid.

[andibandit]

PS3 exclusive developers are really destroying each other competetively this year.
I see alot of lost profit in second hand sales.

[mendicant]

Hahahaha...so that's the latest excuse?

[Funky Town_TX]

Me and my friends have not been able to hook up on horde yet :( Great job by epic and all the sales are deserved. This game is worth $60 and that's what it's about. Why all the hate from the PS3 fanboys? Can't wait for BF3 and UC3 to come out. Gaming in 2011 has been good and only gets better.

[WetN00dle69]

And expensive......lol

[WetN00dle69]

Ive yet to complete the Campaign.
Thats how awesome the Multiplayer is.
Anyways Congrats to Cliffy and EPIC for releasing an amazing game!

[Hozi]

Great! But now what for MS and Epic?

[WetN00dle69]

Doubt this is the end of their partnership.

[tigertron]

I think these sales figures confirm a Gears 4. I'm sure MS will want to continue to cash in on this franchise.

Gears 3 deserves the sales.

[rjgbyrne]

Gears is great, I enjoyed it in a different way to Uncharted. They are different games in execution but shooters to the core. Besides Xbox exclusives selling better than PS3(which has to be down to marketing and Microsoft are great at that) I believe Sony is showing signs of a struggle with the updated PSN agreement. Sony have a stellar group of first party developers and a much wider selection of exclusives but none of them sell as well in comparison to Xbox exclusives. The reason I don't buy my PS3 games in the first few months is because they discount them so quickly, its like buying a Capcom game, you know a better version is just around the corner, why get gouged? I think Sony need to produce something Xbox can't and so far this generation, that hasn't happened (Don't think I am spamming, Uncharted could be done on Xbox over a few discs, same with Gears on PS3 and both slightly pared back). GTA 3 streamlined the PS2 DVD format and played to ALL it's strengths. Do something similar with Blu-ray... I don't mean more content as that costs t produce, I want experiences that ONLY Blu-ray and PS3 can produce. Move was a waste, I love my Kinect as I p[lay Dance Central, Sports and Your Shape a lot. I have my fingers crossed Vita and PS3 combined will bring me the something new I am looking for... Kudos to Ninty for the 3DS, its unique but also innovative for glasses free 3D.

[shysun]

Well deserved! Its' the best game I bought all year!

[Nunchez]

Brilliant I'm glad I contributed to that!

[Karum]

People need to get real here with all this nonsense about why Gears 3 has sold so well. I'll tell you why it has done and please note that this is coming from someone who is much more a fan of my PS3 than I am of my 360, but does enjoy Gears (1,2 and 3) very much indeed.

Back when Gears 1 came out it was a pretty big deal, the gameplay and the graphics were something nobody had really seen before on consoles (even though yes, Heavenly Sword was and still is a gorgeous game and Uncharted set a new bar when it came out after Gears 1). It was a great game and delivered on every single level possible and had a ton of marketing behind it, this is how people's attention was drawn to the game and it helped the game do fierce numbers.

Fast forward to Gears 2 where the franchise has an established fanbase and Epic have had the chance to improve on some stuff. With the exception of the ending to Gears 2 (which as a fan I thought was incredibly lame) Gears 2 was awesome and whilst it wasn't a bar setting graphical powerhouse the game looked good and played good (apart from online which was horrible and was acknowledged by Cliffy B so I'm not making that part up). It of course has a ton of marketing too and people that heard good things about the first but never played it took a jump into the franchise.

This brings us to the present day and Gears 3. Gears is now a well known franchise with 2 pretty solid iterations before it with a fanbase that only grew between the first and second game. Microsoft's marketing has changed and has now begun to take advantage of pop culture which is shown by the celebs they have got endorsing Kinect and got celebrities like big sean in on the Gears 3 launch party. Gears 3 is also pretty damn fucking fun and online is much better now too. They have improved on the previous game and with all the work that came before Gears 3 it has propelled this game higher than any Gears game before it.

So you see it's basically like this. Epic make an awesome game in Gears 1, MS market it heavily to get it noticed. People notice and buy it in droves and a fanbase is established. This formula continues into Gears 2 which performs better and this formula continues again into Gears 3 which is the best Gears game and will be the best selling Gears game yet.

Saying that it sells only because of marketing is absurd. It has sold due to a culmination of a very good developer making a very good game and marketing doing it's job and making people aware of the game which in turn built a fanbase over time which has grown. It also helps that shooters have been the most popular genre during this gen.

Marketing has indeed done it's job here as the franchise has done nothing but grow but no amount of marketing could make a continuously bad game continuously improve in both quality and sales over time.

[Droid Control]

Why doesn't first party PS3 games sell this well?

[Kahvipannu]

Some do, like GT, but it's not about the platform, it's about the game. I'm going to re-buy X0 for Gears3, it's that good, tryed out the new horde, and loved it.

[giovonni]

Congrats on ms and epic I'm on my second run, and it's wonderful.

[Silly gameAr]

Not surprised that the comment section turned into a full fledged circus with sales nuts as the main attraction. But, good job Epic. Well deserved.

[CanadianTurtle]

I'm not a console fagboy, and I don't like participating in the console war. But I have to say that I hope Resistance 3, UC3, and all the other PS3 exclusives sell well overtime because I hate to see when developers stop making a good game series because it doesn't sell enough.

I'm a huge gamer, so I'm going to be crying if Resistance 3 is the last game made by Insomniac...

[OpiZA]

Whoooweeeee... it's deserved. The game is stellar. Hope uncharted 3 can pull similar numbers, always love to see talented studios rewarded

[m23]

Almost all my friends on XBL have been playing this game non-stop, including me. I haven't even touched any other game lol.

[memots]

been saving up for a while

[tonywood]

There's no sense in hating on gears of War 3...its hott! Yea, if it were on the PS3, I probably wouldn'tconsider an xbox 360. But exclusives exist mainly because of $ and a little bit if loyality. (cough...capcom, metal gear, mass effect)

I give props to the games, and leave companies/devs out of it. Gears isn't on the PS3 because Sony didn't pay for it. Would the PS3 structure make gears better? Who knows...but its killing on 360, and that deserves props. It's better than halo odst and reach...that's my opinion.

[ndl1531]

its a great game but i think its due to a lack of exclusives that it sells this much and not "teh bestest game Evar" and i said "exclusives" not multiplat crap like cod . and before someone cries about how call of dudu "teh sells millions" everyone with a brain knows its the "everyone has it so im buying it too" syndrome . nothing but frat boys getting their fps fix are the majority of cod sales . anyways gears is fine and dandy but to act as if its the second coming if jesus ? uh NO . its unreal engine begs to differ and clearly proves my point that 360 folks are starving for exclusives but like i said great sales

[-EvoAnubis-]

Not getting all the drama here. This is great news. Why do people have to turn everything into a fanboy war?

[Shojin1]

Its real funny how not one review covers the fact that you can now see your enemy GLOWING from 200 yds away! It was good in GOW1-2 to not have the here I am feature in. Maybe they could remove this or make a mod thats more hardcore...

Great game, scan lines here and there on a 240hrz 2mill pixel is strange though...

[Jason143]

well 360 has had nothing for a looonnnnggg time so this is to be expected. monster hunter sold over 4 million after a long dry spell as well on psp. Id say good for epic but they didnt even improve the stale gameplay.

[AO1JMM]

"stale gameplay"

^^^ opinion and not everyone agrees with you.

[AO1JMM]

WOW! Those are "EPIC" first week sales numbers.