Mike Capps, president of Epic Games, may have let slip plans to make a sequel to Gears of War, Epic's much anticipated holiday shooter. By telling CVG that the ending is unresolved, allowing for a future installment, Epic is hoping to recreate Bungie's controversial "leave them hanging" strategy, seen (or, rather, not seen) in Halo 2. While Gears of War will sell like bottled water in the middle of the Sahara (the pre-orders alone are doing a good job of reaching that goal), the sales may not translate into a sure-fire hit series.

Strong sales tends to indicate consumer acceptance; however, sales may not mean much when it comes to Gears of War. Because Gears will sell well on the back of hype and strong advertising, properly benchmarking consumer acceptance may be a difficult task. If the people who buy Gears of War are not salivating for the next game after the credits roll, a sequel may be a bad move.

Back in August, CliffyB told Joystiq, "I'll never commit or say that a game will have a sequel or series." If the public doesn't go for the chainsaw melee Epic and Microsoft are promoting, starting the sequel could turn out to be a costly mistake.

[via Eurogamer]