Bleszinski: Gears of War 3 targeting "over 6 million" sales
Epic's Cliff Bleszinski is aiming high for Gears of War 3's sales, and feel a pre-holiday release could help.
"Definitely over 6 million, obviously," Bleszinski told IndustryGamers when asked where Epic had set their targets.
"But deep down, just to be perfectly candid and honest, I would die if we hit 10 - that would be phenomenal. But I can only pray and hope. It’s up to the gamers to vote with their wallets."
Although the two past Gears of War games have managed 12 million sales between them, Bleszinski things Gears of War 3's multiplayer will help it top the series so far.
"We also wanted to deliver a game that has enough stuff so people don’t see it as a campaign rental. So you have Beast Mode, you have Horde mode, great versus multiplayer, a great campaign... hard to deny it. So we want a $60 day one game that people want to keep forever," he said.
Online play is an important part of Epic's strategy for staying competitive through what promises to be a crowded holiday season packed with major releases - including the war between Activision's Call of Duty and EA's Battlefield 3.
"Those two are going head to head in November, and we have a good month and a half before then and I’m hoping if we get enough of that installed base of people who are hooked on our system of ribbons and unlockables and achievement points, gamers will be like, 'Damnit, no, I have to buy either Call of Duty or Battlefield, cause I’m keeping Gears.' That’s what we’re hoping for," Bleszinski said.
"If you come out in September, then you actually have a chance of several holiday bumps," he added.
"You get September, you get Black Friday, then you get all the money the kids get after Christmas they spend with their gift cards on the games; so sometimes you get a double, or triple bump. We just want to make sure enough people get their hands on it and their eyes on it to see that this is a great game. It’s really polished up amazingly online, so they’ll hopefully stick with it," he said.
Gears of War 3 is an Xbox 360 exclusive due on September 20.