A report has been issued by investment firm Cowen & Company about sales regarding Gears Of War Judgment and God of War: Ascension, which predict dismal sales for either title in the US. The company is suggesting that Judgment only sold 425,000 units in the first month of sale, while Ascension is predicted to have sold just 360,000 units.
It is unclear though whether the figures predicted include digital downloads.
There could be a number of reasons for why both titles in otherwise popular franchises haven’t managed to perform well. Publicity may be one of the biggest culprits as there didn’t seem to be as big an advertising push for either titles, compared to both Gears 3 and God Of War 3.
We’re also looking at the end of a console generation so many consumers could be holding off purchasing anything new, instead waiting for the next gen to launch and spending money then instead. Game sales also tend to drop around this time of year following a huge sales spike during the Christmas season.
These figures are US only, so we’re not sure what the figures are globally. However, considering the US is the largest market sales internationally may not have a large impact on projected sales. This blip probably won’t see MS dropping Gears Of War or Sony getting rid of God of War, but there may have to be changes in how big franchises are now created to meet expectations.
Source: GI.biz.
Dom El
Fundamentally people just aren’t as interested in playing as either of those characters – Baird may well have been a fan favourite, but a cocky sidekick does not a central character make. I’ve always found Kratos two dimensional, but was willing to play through for the gameplay and the spectacle – I’d say the novelty has worn off both leaving a character that is simply too hard to empathise with anymore.
Quag
i’ll bite at £15 as i’ve just not got the interest in the GoW series anymore to justify paying full price for it.