A recent survey of industry professionals performed by GI crowned Halo: Reach as the game that’ll sell the most copies this year, a good sign for Microsoft. But don’t think it’ll be a smooth road to victory because late last year God of War III received the award for being the most anticipated title of 2010.
Let’s investigate shall we?
The power of Halo
Ace in the hole. If Microsoft realizes that the Xbox 360 is struggling, they can rest easy at night knowing that the Halo franchise will take the 360 out of any slump. Watch what happened with Halo 3: ODST last year, it was only supposed to be and extension pack, at least that’s what bungie promised, but not too long after their language changed and what was meant to be DLC turned into a full blown marketing campaign to release what according to them was transformed into a full blown game, although it only lasted about 4hrs. There were countless complaints among gamers threatening a boycott but in the end Halo 3: ODST went on to sell millions in weeks; a testament to the influence of the Halo franchise.
Halo: Reach: What we know thus far:
When Halo: Reach was announced last year, the hype train was barley turned on, now a few months later and after a world premier trailer at last year’s VGAs, the internet went insane with speculation, adoration, jubilee and of course criticism. That was just the beginning because as we speak, Microsoft execs have been hyping this game to the heavens, literally. Robbie Bach said it’ll have Natal functionality, bungie is talking up a secret new multiplayer mode and Microsoft said “Halo: Reach will be the biggest game of 2010,” fighting words my friends. But back to the real world where real expectations are to be met and even there, Halo: Reach is showing its strength.
As noted above, industry professionals have concluded Halo: Reach will be the biggest seller on any system this year. The prequel to Halo is expected to outdo even big multiplatform blockbusters like Final Fantasy XIII:
Games expected to be the biggest sellers in 2010
1. Halo: Reach
2. Final Fantasy XIII
3. StarCraft II
4. Call of Duty 7
5. FIFA 11
6. BioShock 2
7. Mass Effect 2
8. God of War III
9. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
10. Gran Turismo 5
As you can see, even Call of Duty 7 will be at the mercy of Halo: Reach. Without a doubt, in 2010 Master Chief will be a force to be reckoned with.
The power of God of War
Sony’s must have title. The first two God of War games were on the PS2 with part 2 coming at the closing days of said system. Even today God of War II looks better than some of the titles on the next-gen systems; a testament to Santa Monica’s technical knowhow. The franchise is now synonymous with the PlayStation brand, the most recognizable and deemed by many as the PlayStation’s biggest system seller. Fans just can’t seem to get enough of Kratos destroying gods, so much so that they started a movement petitioning for the two God of War titles to be re-released as a collection pack on Blu-ray for PS3. Guess what happened? They got their wish and now, the God of War Collection has sold very well proving the dedication of the franchise’s fans.
God of War III: What we know thus far:
We knew this monster of a game was coming to PS3 for a very long time; we’ve been teased with trailers, screenshots and press releases for years, but everything came to a thunderous climax at last year’s E3. That gameplay footage was, and still is so epic that all you could hear from publications big and small for days was the marvel they saw at that show. And it continues: journalists who were fortunate enough to see recent footage of what the game looks like now were left speechless, and Sony has finally pushed into high gear with lofty statements like God of War III is a “must have title of 2010,” “only possible on the PS3″ and as set “apart from other titles.” Big words.
Hailed as the number one system seller for PS3 and a true contender to Halo: Reach, God of War III will have to prove its worthiness in two Months.
And there you have it, the battle is set, the setting is epic; in your opinion, which game will rule 2010? We’ll leave the speculation to you, share your thoughts in the comments below.
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I think Kratos is more highly anticipated, however, I think Halo: Reach will sell more copies.
Overall, both PS3 and Xbox 360 wins in 2010. Good stuff.
By the way, good read.
Well since I don’t have a PS3 I guess I would be looking more forward to Halo Reach then anything else. But I did love God of War 1, 2 and the PSP game Chains of Olympus so I have no doubt 3 will be amazing too.
Both are great games, with lasting appeal and both will do extremely well.
Are the expected big sellers in any particular order? If so, clearly GT5 is a force to reckon with
So we had Halo 3, Halo ODST, this Halo 4 or reach is doing that reaching … this series should die like the nightmare on elm street series did.
as long as they keep cranking out halo games, people will continue to buy them again and again, just like the call of duty series.
NO CONTEST
Halo is bland, linear, as much as they can get in there I really don’t think the story, gameplay or graphics will shock you in any way.
GOWIII in the other hand…
The top ten list,
“1. Halo: Reach
2. Final Fantasy XIII
3. StarCraft II
4. Call of Duty 7
5. FIFA 11
6. BioShock 2
7. Mass Effect 2
8. God of War III
9. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
10. Gran Turismo 5″
I think is ridiculous for the fact it leaves out Wii Fit Plus and New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and perhaps even Wii Sports Resort.
Also, no mention of Zelda Wii, which Iwata has said will have a 2010 release(maybe he meant just Japan?).
If Wii Fit has sold 20 million plus units, in only a year and one half, I would expect to the sequel to do at least 1/4 of that…but maybe more.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii will probably end up being a “slow burn”, and if it’s anything like the NSMB DS, the game will beat all the ones on this list over time.
Why do people say that GOW is Sony’s biggest franchise? It’s clearly not. Gran Turismo has always been Sony’s biggest franchise in terms of sales and probably always will be. I’m not saying GOW 3 is a bad game, it’s a fantastic game and i’ll definetly be picking it up on day 1 but GT has always been Sony’s biggest system seller.
You’re comparing Halo VS God Of War? Despite the fact that the Gran Turismo franchise has sold more than Halo and God Of War PUT TOGETHER?
There have been 4 major entries into the GT franchise so far, the average number of copies sold per game is over 11 million. The lowest selling game in the GT franchise (GT 2) sold 9.5 million, the highest selling game in the franchise (GT 3: A – SPEC) sold 15 million, more than both GOW games put together, more than Halo 1, 2 and Halo Wars put together.
To put it simply, GT is sales juggernaut that Halo couldn’t even dream of reaching in a million years, even if no more GT games came out it would still probably take Halo another 27 games to reach the GT franchise’s 53 million mark.
The real battle in sales this year (Accross all platforms) is going to be Gran Turismo 5 VS Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver. Those will be the biggest selling games of the year, every other game will be an afterthought.
Whoever made that crap top 10 list obviously doesn’t have a clue about the videogames industry, ME 2 selling more than GT 5??? LOL………
I’ll be going with GOW3. Im tired of all the Halo games. If ya ask me now their just milkin the Halo series, its so over rated just like alot of other games out their. One of those games that use to be cool and now you just wish they would finally just put the gun to Halo and end it all ready, im sure Bungie can come up with something new.