Xbox 360, Halo 3, and Gears of War: Violence breeds killer apps?
Written by Max Freiert (contact - e-mail) -- February 22nd, 2007 | Recommend ThisOne of the big questions of the 2006 Holiday season revolved around video game Gears of War as Xbox 360’s first “Killer App”. After selling nearly 3 million copies worldwide (nearly 1 for every 3 Xbox 360’s) it has become a staple in any gamer’s library. But a true killer app should drive people to buy the console. Looking at Xbox 360 shoppers online, Gears of War was a great success among current owners, but Microsoft will have to wait until next holiday season for its first console-defining game. The good news for Microsoft: A year from launch, Halo 3 was already driving significant Xbox 360 purchase consideration.
Microsoft addressed the launch of the PS3 and Wii by reminding people that the 360 was out, easy to find, and had great games in the pipeline. The November Gears of War launch and teasers for Halo 3 were a part of this strategy. Throughout the holiday season, we assessed the degree to which Xbox 360 shoppers also considered various games at online retailers.
- From November to January, an average of 4% of online Xbox 360 shoppers also considered Gears of War.
- During the same period an average of 12% Xbox 360 shoppers viewed Halo 3 at online retailers, nearly triple the overlap that Gears of War received.
A game in a series as popular as Halo would be expected to generate massive interest, but the significant overlap between Xbox 360 shoppers and Halo 3 shoppers* is surprising. This metric begins to explain the relationship between exclusive games and their impact on console demand. Shopper overlap doesn’t definitively measure this impact, but looking at people who considered both the game and the console at a retail product level starts to demonstrate why someone was shopping for a 360, since it can be assumed that they were interested in purchasing both.
Comparing Halo 3 to Gears of War on this metric, three things become apparent: Gears of War may have sold a lot of copies but it was only marginally effective at driving 360 adoption (calling its “killer app” status into question); promoting Halo 3 during the Wii and PS3 launches probably swayed a large group of neutral shoppers towards the 360; and its probably not a bad idea to pre-order Halo 3 if you want it before next February.
*Halo 3 shoppers were defined as people visiting SKU level Halo 3 pages at the 20 largest online retailers.
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February 23rd, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Halo 3 is the reason I bought my XBox 360 in January this year. I also reserved my Halo 3 Legendary at GameStop that same day. I only bought Gears of War because my friend wanted to play it.
February 27th, 2007 at 6:44 am
I prerfear Xbox, if you as me why? - I don’t knou.. but i like it!
March 5th, 2007 at 11:12 pm
I got my 360 for christmas just cuz i couldnt find PS3 in stores, thn i heard Gears was a good game so i got that as my game and im sure glad i did! however i also pre-ordered Halo 3 in february but gears kicks Halo 2’s ass. And i think gears 2 will sell even more than Halo 3 and Halo Wars put together
March 7th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
i disagree theres no way GoW2 will make more money then H3 and Halo wars put together
March 15th, 2007 at 10:29 am
I play xboxlive 24-7 and the big question that I always hear is about if gears of war 2 will be bigger than HALO 3. And for this one im going to have to go with the master of the bater. Because first off Halo is made for everybody parents love Halo because its not so vulgar and kids love it because it is amazing. I love Gears of War to but their just isnt anything like Halo. Otherwise me and you Jeremy can take this one out on Halo or gears of war, my name is my account.
May 17th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
Oh gosh, thank you Microsoft your greatness for making HALO 3 and now you can give HALO 2 to PC users like a childs hand-me-down. SCREW YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 19th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
I don’t know if you’ve heard yet but Halo 3 is still due out on time. The testing for the game has been through the roof, but analysts are concerned that it’s going to experience poor sales because of competition from the Wii and its interactive videogames. Just sort of wondering what you thought about it.
Check out the story: http://thenewsroom.com/details/317822/Business?c_id=adm
May 20th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
gears of war 2 and halo3 will be the best games evar Screawww ps3!!!
May 29th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
“We all know that GoW is almost a year old, and Halo 3 is the game everybody is waiting for. But we’ll just have to see if Halo 3 lives up to the hype…until maybe Gears of War 2 comes in the picture. Hey, I still play GoW to this day and I love every single time I play it, because it is an awesome game for the 360. I just hope that Halo 3 will have a much better graphics and gameplay–which I kind of doubt that to happen anyway. In my opinion, Marcus Fenix and the whole squad are the new rulers when it comes to shooter games. And please…don’t even mention Resistance: Fall of man ’cause it is not a GoW level–not close enough, dudes! It will take a little longer to dethrone Gears of War and no shooter games has come close to be compared with it…well, maybe Halo 3—we just have to see about that, folks!!!!!
June 18th, 2007 at 11:46 am
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June 18th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
holo 3 is the best!!! i think all you need is a good tv and a 360 and you would think the game is real.gears of war 2, good game, but not the best. in my opinion, i think the 360 and most of ist games i really cool.
KNOW ONE CARES ABOUT PS3. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PS3!
June 24th, 2007 at 7:30 am
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September 3rd, 2007 at 9:55 pm
every1 who thinks GoW will be better than halo 3 u need to return ur 360
September 4th, 2007 at 6:57 am
i think GoW2 will ultimately be better than Halo 3 even though they are two different types of games. Halo is getting old and GoW is just sick online. (gameplay, graphics, strategy, realism) i know that’s just an opinion but i mean even on a visual level GoW owns halo hard. i’d much ratcher see someone’s head actually explode into raw pieces of brain matter than some sparks n shit. just my two cents.
the good think about halo is it’s matchmaking system and how easy it is to just get some ppl you know together and play ranked. i wish every game on xbox live had that matchmaking system. it makes your overall experience so much better and smoother.
September 6th, 2007 at 2:38 am
Sweet halo 3 poster just came out. What do you guys think? http://www.postergods.com/trends9187.html
September 10th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
halo 3 kicks ass and will be bigger than ps3 and its games put together. we bought a new t.v just to play halo 3 on and also gow2 will sell out as fast as halo 3
September 10th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
yer i agree with u jack it will be the two biggest games in the whole wide world so ps3 sccccccccccccccccccccccrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww your self
September 10th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
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September 25th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Yea PS3 doesnt stand a chance against Halo.
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September 25th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
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September 26th, 2007 at 8:34 am
I just got Halo 3 yesterday, the same day it came out, I wasn’t a fan of any of the previous versions but somehow I thought this one would be different, I still don’t like it, gears of war is a lot better, the graphics, the multiplayer, you feel like if you were really that person in the screen, those long slow jumps in halo 3 are so ridiculous, this is a game for very young people only, and nerds too. :)~
Gears of War Rules.
October 1st, 2007 at 8:26 pm
For all those people (halo fans) who went to get their own copy of halo 3 last week on its launch day, did your “much anticipated game” lived up to the hype? Or were you, halo fans, disappointed? Some gamers who already has the game are PRETTY UPSET about halo 3. They said that the graphics are not that par compared to gears of war, and still pretty much any other halo game. C’mon! We all know that halo 3 is just full of hype and the people from Epic Games has something to counter this “so-called” greatest game ever! When the nest gears of war comes out some tome next year or so, it’ll be a lot bigger and badder that the first one…damn right! GEARS OF WAR RULES 4EVER!!!!!!
October 1st, 2007 at 8:29 pm
For all those people (halo fans) who went to get their own copy of halo 3 last week on its launching day, did your “much anticipated game” lived up to the hype? Or were you, halo fans, disappointed? Some gamers who already has the game are PRETTY UPSET about halo 3. They said that the graphics are not that par compared to gears of war, and still pretty much the same like any other halo games. C’mon! We all know that halo 3 is just full of hype and the people from Epic Games has something to counter this “so-called” greatest game ever! When the next gears of war comes out some time next year or so, it’ll be a lot bigger and badder that the first one…damn right! GEARS OF WAR RULES 4EVER!!!!!!
October 8th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
Ok, face it, gears of war is MUCH better than halo. PERIOD. The only upper hand that halo has is that it had halo, and halo 2 out before it. Nobody knew about Gears of war. But now it’s obvious, when gears of war 2 and 3 come out, nobody will remember anything about halo 1, 2, or 3. it will be a thing of the past. Gears of war is much better than any halo
January 5th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
lol man halo 3 is so much damn better than gears of war man halo 3 is awosme the online shit is badass and man gears of war has been out for more and still hasnt sold more and there no way if they were eever to make a gow2 there no way repeat after me THAT IT WOULD EVER BE BETTER THAN HALO 3 halo if u have the whole serious man that game FUCKIN IS AWOSME though i like the halo 2 online more than the halo 3 for some reason but the whole HALO serious RULES
January 5th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
ITS FUCKIN AWSOME BASTARDS
January 5th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
ALL U PPLE WHO LIKE GEARS OF WARS R FCKIN JACKASS MAN I HATE U PPLZ U DUMB HALO3 THE BEST best BEST BEST BEST BEST GAME EVER GOT IT BUY IT THE BEST GAME EEVER IM SERIOUS and buy the whoe series THEN U WILL UNDERSTAND ALL OF IT
just buy every single halo game like me ITS AWSOME ahahaha my online name is dA JACKASS k1L3r
January 5th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
For my halo thinG
March 5th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
yo jackass hater suck on sum nuts u lil panzi gears of war is the best wut said bout halo 3 halo3 got old fast and gears of war is the best so stfu and gears of war 2 will out sell ever game ever. u don lik gears then u dont hav a nutsack go buy sum on ebay…..
April 8th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Man i hope the sniper in gears of war 2 got a clip or sumtin cuz the longshot was kinda bull its was more like a gun from world war 1 put a bullet in fire take shell out put abullet in again fire its stupid but it was still my favorite gun lol.
April 8th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA jackass u panzii fruitcake i bought halo 3 and got bored of it after like 2 weeks the achievments r way to frikin easy to get all i need from it is 4 more from live and ill have all them. Jackass Gow2 will out sell halo 1 , 2 , 3 and halowars in the first week lol. Oh Yeah Jackass tell your mom she ows me 40 bucks and tell her she was terrible in the sack haha.
April 29th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Hi , Iam very happy and enjoying my XBox 360
July 14th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Well Matt, to be honest, GOW2 could not possibly outsell all games in the halo franchise in only a week because it would be impossible to produce around 15 million games that quickly, but so far it still seems it will fail in the long run as well seeing as Halo 3 is still going strong with around 1 million people still playing it daily on LIVE, so your argument fails. Also, that whole “your mom” thing, is older than you are.