14 DAY TRIAL // Gears of War 3 is one of the biggest launches coming in the fall of this year and it seems that the executives working at developer Epic Games are hoping that the game will see the strongest debut of any title in the series, aiming for overall sales of 10 million units.
Speaking to Industry Gamers Cliff Bleszinski, who is the design director working on Gears of War 3 and the main public face behind the franchise, has been asked point blank about the sales the new game aims for and said, “Definitely over 6 million, obviously.”
He added, “But deep down, just to be perfectly candid and honest, I would die if we hit 10 million units; that would be phenomenal. But I can only pray and hope. It's up to the gamers to vote with their wallets.”
The designer made it clear later, via his Twitter feed, that the 6 and 10 million units figures are his hopes rather than the actual sales aims of his company or the sales numbers needed to make the game profitable.
Recently Epic Games has said that about 1.3 million players have tried out Gears of War 3 in multiplayer during the recent beta, which ran from April 18 to May 15, and that the players came from no less than 145 countries.
The 1 million pre order milestone has also been reached quicker for Gears of War 3 than for any other Xbox 360 exclusive title, including Halo: Reach, the latest game that Bungie created for the Microsoft home console.
Overall sales for the first Gears of War reached 12 million units.
The third game in the series will see Marcus Fenix and his comrades fighting both the Locust forces and the more sinister, mutated Lambent in order to protect what's left of humanity.
Gears of War 3 will be launched on September 20.