Gears of War 2 Designer: Savvy Gamers Know How to Pirate

By Marcus Yam
published

Gears of War was a monster hit on the Xbox 360, which eventually made it to the PC after a considerable wait. The game’s sequel, however, will be a console-only title.

Speaking to IGN in an interview from late August, Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski said, “Gears of War is a great franchise first and foremost for Xbox 360, and therefore we’re focusing on that platform for Gears of War 2. We’ve decided we’re not going to do a PC version this time around.”

The decision not to make a PC version of Gear of War 2 is particularly significant for Epic Games’ who has deep roots and history on the PC platform. Due to changing environmental conditions, however, the developer felt it best to divert resources to the more profitable avenue.

Namely, Bleszinski points to how easy it is for “savvy” gamers to acquire illegal versions of games.

“The PC right now is a fair amount different to what it was back in the day, with all the badly integrated video chips,” said Bleszinski to TVG. “Here’s the problem right now; the person who is savvy enough to want to have a good PC to upgrade their video card, is a person who is savvy enough to know bit torrent to know all the elements so they can pirate software.”

Essentially, Bleszinski is saying that Epic Games’ target market isn’t exactly the ones who tend to purchase their software. “Therefore, high-end videogames are suffering very much on the PC,” he added.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
50 Comments Comment from the forums
  • one-shot
    I believe pirating is hurting the pc gaming market, but low end IGP's on most entry level pc's can't be helping either. I don't think we can blame either as being more significant. I think IGP's need to be faster to allow more people to play games. I don't pirate games, I buy all of them with my own money. I could have bought a new gpu and cpu, or a pc for the amount I've spent on games.
    Reply
  • I must have been scammed when I bought gow for pc...
    Reply
  • crockdaddy
    PC games to succeed need for the most part to have an online component that sucks the user in and keeps them coming. How else can Valve be so freaking successful? The problem with EPIC in my view is I think they became lazy. Make pretty graphical game. Assume everyone will buy it even though the game is not drastically different from all the other games EPIC has made. I owned UT, UT Tournament, UT 2003, '04 ....and I stopped. I was/am interested in UT III but is it all that much different than the TF2 and CoD IV, or BF2 I still play now? It is a crowded field and EPIC has just stated they cannot handle the competition. I wonder how well UT III sales have held up in the console market?
    Reply
  • crockdaddy
    I should add to EPIC's commments many of the same savy high end GPU gamers also know and do mod their consoles as well. I see as many if not more download areas for 360,Wii, PSP downloads. Anyway ..... I am just irritated at Epic.
    Reply
  • makotech222
    well he does make a point most people that have technical skills know how easy it is to pirate a game. online games are less likely to be pirated though.
    Reply
  • noobe1981
    LOL what an idiot.. Sorry but he is. Most people that are "savvy" enough to replace a video card.. Guess what still know how to pirate consoles. Only difference is some consoles take mod chips. Whippy do dah.

    Reply
  • aznguy0028
    yea i agree with you crock, modding consoles is not a super hard thing to do. i also noticed the pattern too that games that have a fun online component sell A LOT more and are not pirated very often compared to the rest. no one ever pirate TF2 because it doesnt even have a single player, and who is going to pirate BF2 unless they want to play with bots all day. make a game great and fun, and people will pirate it, and buy it as well...such as in the case of the first crysis, it sold 1mill+ and the developers were still whining.

    but make a great online game, and you'll reap the rewards such as Valve, Blizzard...
    Reply
  • mad_murdock
    While it might be true that many people mod their Consoles, I believe the sales numbers do speak for themselves. You sell 10 million on the console and 300,000 on the PC and it's pretty easy to see where the market is. And if it was my money to invest, I'm putting it where I'm mostly likely going to make the most money, with the least amount of risk.
    PC pirating is going to kill the PC gaming market, except for games like WoW, WAR and other Subscription based games. Or force such radical DRM that no one will want the game on their system.
    Reply
  • aznguy0028
    i agree that i would put in the area that makes the most money w/least risk, but 10 million to 300,000 is not a very fair comparison.

    to my knowledge, correct me if i'm wrong, but i never seen a console game sell 10 million copies. cross platforms for a combined sale, maybe...but one console by itself, i never heard/seen it.

    besides if they do cross platforms, they have to port it to the other consoles and often times PC's is in also, but i guess EPIC is changing their ways for GOW2. when UT first came out, it was a great game but i agree with crock on his views as well, UT03,04...etc. nothing really changed much. for the most part the guns were still the same and they added vehicles and such. it wasn't a revolutionary thing and EPIC has used the same formula for all their UT series, which grew stale over time as more great FPS series came out and took the crown away from UT.

    GOW was their most recent break and i think it did really well on consoles, b/c consoles lack FPS where the PC HAS TONS. COD IV and HALO was the last FPS on consoles that really made a mark. honestly though, shooting people while using one joystick to move and the other to aim isn't really my cup of tea for a FPS. i'll pass on console FPS. imo, if a console gamer has a choice of a FPS on a console or PC, they would undoubtedly pick the PC version (if they have a good PC at that).

    my suggestion i would give EPIC is, make a game that people WANT TO PAY to PLAY, not some recycled cr*p that uses the same formula year after year after year with a face lift. create something like team fortress 2 as a FPS, and they'll rank it millions.
    Reply
  • Aerobernardo
    More DRM = more piracy
    Why the hell does Crysis Warhead is half priced compared to other games? It is much better then 99,999% of the 360 shooters (some say halo, I say only gears). So a good product must be cheap and free of injuries (read DRM) for costumers.

    With the current economy don´t expect us to buy U$60 games, pay for live and be happy with it. Good games don´t cost as much, and please do learn something with NFS Pro Street: crappy sales since you have to pay for every single car worth playing.
    Reply