14 DAY TRIAL // Gears of War 3, by far one of the most anticipated Xbox 360 exclusives of next year, has been pushed back from its initial release date in April to fall of 2011, according to a statement from Microsoft Games Studios, the title's publisher.
The Gears of War franchise is one of the most respected Xbox 360 exclusives out there, being only beaten by Halo in terms of first person shooters.
That's why gamers were ecstatic to hear that the third iteration in the series, Gears of War 3, will be appearing on April 5, 2011, right before the lackluster summer period.
Now though, things have taken a turn for the worse, at least for gamers, as Epic Games, its developer, and Microsoft Game Studios, its publisher, have announced that the title will be pushed back to the busy fall 2011 season.
According to the two companies, the delay has nothing to do with development issues or anything like that, just with the importance of the Gears of War franchise, and how its third iteration might reach a bigger audience in the fall season.
"Gears of War 3 promises to be the biggest entertainment launch of 2011," the Microsoft statement reads. "The teams at Microsoft Game Studios and Epic Games have done great work thus far readying the title for release in the Spring of 2011. However, we've elected to move the launch of Gears of War 3 until Fall 2011 to make it the marquee title for the holiday season."
Another, more plausible reason might be the fact that another Epic title, Bulletstorm, is set to appear in February, so launching Gears so close to it might have had a negative impact on the sales of the brand new title.
Also, next year's fall season might bring a new Call of Duty Modern Warfare title, as well as other high anticipated sequels, so Microsoft's isn't keen on letting rivals profit from the high grossing holiday season.
What do you think of the Gears of War 3 delay? Is it something that was necessary or are Epic and Microsoft just waiting for a bigger profit?