Bleszinski: Gears 3 multiplayer has to be good, or 'the franchise is dead'

by Griffin McElroy on Mar 10th 2011 9:00PM

Not only are we excited about the prospect of joining the Gears of War 3 beta next month because, you know, of all the dude-sawing -- we're also hopeful that the tests will prevent a rough start-up for the full game's multiplayer experience. In an interview with IGN, Epic Games design director Cliff Bleszinski acknowledged (the beta test-less) Gears of War 2's less-than-optimal online offerings at launch, saying the developer "can't afford to make that mistake twice."

The outspoken developer explained, "if we release Gears 3 and it has the same launch as Gears 2 online then the franchise is dead." He later added, "to be fair, over the course of the six title updates, we got Gears 2 in a very good position. And we need to take it to great. And that's what this will help do." We've got another suggestion for making the game "great" -- two chainsaws. One on your gun, and another one on your chainsaw.

Chainsawsaw.

Source: IGN

Tags: beta, beta-test, cliff-bleszinski, epic-games, Gears-of-War-3, microsoft, Microsoft-Game-Studios, pc, xbox

Reader Comments (53)

Good on Cliff for actually saying something truthful & not BSing everyone

@Prboi

He's still BS'ing. There are tons of glitches even after the sixth update (stair glitch on Subway, for instance). I still play Gears 2 routinely, but there are still major problems as is. I hope Gears 3 gets fixed. I really, really do.

@Lone Starr

Well they can only update it so much. They do have to work on Gears 3. I mean, I would prefer them focusing more on Gears 3 than putting out another update for Gears 2

@Lone Starr Gears 3 will have boundaries, so if someone finds a way to glitch out of the map, they will die automatically.

@Prboi

You both miss my point. I would rather he work on Gears 3 as well, but his track record with multiplayer is so flawed (again, I play Gears 2 a lot because it's stupid fun) that his guarantees and boundaries are not enough to make me feel confident. The beta's a start.

@The 7th Number

That's how Reach fixed their glitches

@ForeverAndEver Sucked at launch causing the fan base to stagnate, it literally took me 7 minutes to find a match once.

7 minutes... That's lucky. The day of launch I had 4 friends over and we were trying to find matches for over an hour once.

Gears MP has always been slightly flawed and glitchy. I got Seriously 1 legit and it took me 11,652 kills (yes, I still remember that number). I'm a big Gears fan and I truly hope that GOW3 MP is nothing the Gears 2 MP. I personally played GOW1 online far more.
But then again that's my opinion so don't flame me for it.

EXACTLY! Ill be skipping the beta but just because i want to be surprised when i play the game for the first time.

@GTThaAceman

by saying you're going to "skip" the beta, i'm going to assume you have access to play, which means you have or will have a beta code. if this is the case, can i haz yours pleez?!

@ForeverAndEver

lol how is he being cocky if he admits that Gears 2 multiplayer was bad upon launch and that the series would be in serious trouble if the multiplayer failed?

Why does everyone hate on him so much? He's putting out the prospects if Gears 3's multiplayer was crap ... seriously you people need to do more things than hate on him.

I imagine they've learned enough from Gears 2 that they'll do pretty well with Gears 3 multiplayer.

@Ezio Auditore da Firenze

Third times the charm they always say

Dude looks like Xzibit.

@Dirk Hardpeck

http://verydemotivational.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/83445b0e-8324-453b-b3d6-43f6059d7287.jpg

@Flapjackal
http://i56.tinypic.com/8z1edt.jpg

@The Only Girl Funny stuff :P

I've got a good feeling about Gears 3. What with the release being pushed back and there now being a beta. This game has to be good, as Cliff said, they will have no excuses.

I want to know if the BETA is going to be open only for people that live in the US or it is going to work for other countries? :(

@Danzaiver It's open in the UK to preoders with GAME and Gamestation, don't know about participating retailers elsewhere. Also if you bought the Bulletstorm Epic Edition anywhere in the world I believe.

@BoBsS

It's his job to ensure the continuation of the franchise. He and his team made it. This just shows he has no confidence in his own product if he's already casting doubts about it.

If the game flops, then they just improve on their mistakes. It's called progress.

This is good to hear considering gears 2 is one the glitches/worst online games I've ever played but when it works which is not very often it's one of the best let's hope gears 3 online works more times than it fails.

@kvn7918 It's going to work for anybody who has a copy of the Epic Edition of Bulletstorm, or pre-ordered Gears 3 from participating retailers, no matter which country you're in.

I REALLY hope the team learns from their mistakes. Gears of War 2 was basically unplayable after a few Title updates. I found matches heavily unenjoyable because of things like lack of hit detection for the shotgun, problems getting into matches, glitchy grenades, and entire features like the concussion grenade being taken out due to complaints from people on the forums (who, by the way, DO NOT represent the entire community.)

I have extremely high hopes for this game. I truly hope it is a success.

Then for the love of god just make it like Gears 1 multiplayer already.

I don't think that a multiplayer makes a franchise dead.. Look at really successful games like Mass Effect, God of War 3, Mario games, etc etc.. So yeah multiplayer is a big bonus but not the death of a franchise.

@Mustang Fanboy Gears now like cod is know for it's multiplayer more than it's singleplayer those games are single player only (except for mario and his spinoffs) and that's all they are known for.

@Mustang Fanboy
But a series like Gears lives by its multiplayer. Like other shooters (first- or third-person), most people play them for the multiplayer modes, not the single-player modes.

@Mr Esc is the namesarcasm is my

Gears 1 versus multiplayer has one of the most loyal followings around. Gears 2's multiplayer was pretty broken because they totally changed it, but Gears 1 multiplayer is so much better than any of the CoD's, Halo's, etc.

Gears of War 2 is not in "very good shape." It is still horrible. And amazingly it came out a year after Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3.

But Cliff is right on one thing - #3 needs to get it right!

Well duh Cliffy B

I was hoping it was dead after the first one. Its in a long line of 3rd person cover based shooters and it still doesnt get it right.

@US 447

Whatever, no one asked the guy who hates Gears of War what he thinks about Gears of War so just move on and let the rest of us play what we like.

"Chainsawsaw"....sounds like the name of a MbMbaM episode, I like it Griffin.

Gears 2 works amazing for me now. It has problems, that are just as noticeable in COD for me. A lot of people don't understand how the new pellet spread works and they'll blame every death on lag.

Dedicated servers should be amazing though.

That's pretty sad. I hope they put effort into the campaign, which is the part of the game I actually care about.

Pretty excited for the mutiplayer. It will be good Epic knows from past sins how to make it good. They are putting more time into it by pushing it back and the beta will help them see where they need to work

i'm certainly in the minority here- but i don't give a shit about Gears multiplayer. i hope they still have a decent campaign with quality co-op- since that's usually all i bother playing for more than an hour with this series.

@laser beams

I'm sure I'm in the majority here, but we don't give a shit about what you give a shit about.

@Vcize stop

I just hope they make the game move faster. After playing all these fps that have been out lately; i went back to Gears 2 and it seems pretty slow now. Unless if you're constantly holding down A it seems like the game is moving in slow mo

Why is this tagged for PC? KNOW SOMETHING WE DON'T, GRIFFIN?

Good he realizes it.

So let me get this straight. The game could generate millions of dollars of profit for EPIC yet you won't make a gears 4 if the muliplayer isn't good? Jesus christ the guy is so full of sh*t.

Every time CliffyBS opens his mouth I feel like I need to find a shovel.

If him and peter molyneux were stranded on an island together, i wonder which one would get tired of the other first?

As long as Co-op & Horde work I'll be happy..
According to my Gears 2 Stats.. only 22 out of 158 matches were competitive modes.. so nearly 6 days spend in Horde

@Mazrael EXACTLY! DudeHuge nags about how they gotta perfect Multiplayer but did they even talk about the increased Horde playing (copied in games like COD-Nazi-zombies, Borderlands, Bulletstorm) and better Co_Op (let's see they dropped 4 player for 2).

Listen up CliffyB, fix it so Co-Op (4 player) and Horde are back and priority. Gaming now is about cooperation and fighting a common enemy (AI), not chainsawing your neighbor. If I want multiplayer, i'll fire up modernWarfare..too many cheaters, glitchers and haters there anyway!

I played Gears 1 online for nearly for hours a day for a year straight. It was seriously the most fun I've ever had in an online game. After the horrible changes and broken matchmaking they introduced in Gears 2, and after seeing the changes they're bringing to 3, I'm convinced that Gears 1 online being so good was a fluke, and Epic has no idea what made it good to begin with. I'm sure Gears 3 won't be broken like 2 was, and it might even be good, but I have little hope that they'll be able to capture the balance and design that made the original such a blast to play.

@CaramelZappa

Of course I'm still buying it day one because it will at the very least have a great co-op campaign and an improved Horde mode.

@CaramelZappa
I feel exactly the same way you do. I loved gears 1. Even with the lag and the glitches. I don't understand why they had to re-invent the multi player part of the game with the sequel. It was almost perfect the way it was. almost. I'll make sure to ask you for impressions on gears 3 when it comes out.

And what about the SP experience? Last time I checked, Gears 2 was one lame-ass corridor after another, with about two memorable things in between (inside the giant worm and flying on another giant thing). The controls were better than in Gears 1, yup, but the campaign felt special. And if I have to crawl through ANOTHER cave system, then CliffyB can personally kiss my wrinkly ass.

| 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 50 Comments

Gears of War 3

Bleszinski: Gears 3 multiplayer has to be good, or 'the franchise is dead'

Reader Comments (53)

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 9:03PM Prboi said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 9:21PM Lone Starr said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 9:26PM Prboi said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 9:49PM The 7th Number said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 10:05PM Lone Starr said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 10:10PM Prboi said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 9:05PM bxgt said

Posted: Mar 11th 2011 12:29AM Aesir Renegade said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 9:06PM GTThaAceman said

Posted: Mar 11th 2011 10:21AM dabilee01 said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 9:08PM BoBsS said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 9:09PM Ezio Auditore da Firenze said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 9:27PM Prboi said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 9:11PM Flapjackal said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 9:20PM WiredKnight said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 9:30PM The Only Girl said

Posted: Mar 12th 2011 4:52PM Flapjackal said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 9:15PM SuperMike861 said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 9:16PM Danzaiver said

Posted: Mar 11th 2011 6:31AM SuperMike861 said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 9:17PM tendoboy1984 said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 9:18PM kvn7918 said

Posted: Mar 11th 2011 12:10AM lemonjuice said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 9:21PM Biko said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 9:23PM Vcize said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 9:23PM Mustang Fanboy said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 9:36PM kvn7918 said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 9:44PM BPMOmega XBL PSN Steam said

Posted: Mar 11th 2011 1:23AM Vcize said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 10:01PM chantastic said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 10:25PM The Cole Train said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 10:35PM US 447 said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 11:03PM fohf said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 10:41PM Altman be Praised said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 10:43PM JGray73 said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 11:15PM Fuzunga said

Posted: Mar 10th 2011 11:55PM Mrblonde57 said

Posted: Mar 11th 2011 2:00AM laser beams said

Posted: Mar 11th 2011 10:46AM Vcize said

Posted: Mar 11th 2011 6:28PM sticks said

Posted: Mar 11th 2011 9:35AM ghostdog said

Posted: Mar 11th 2011 11:26AM heypaul said

Posted: Mar 11th 2011 11:35AM cleopatrudo said

Posted: Mar 11th 2011 2:03PM iceveiled said

Posted: Mar 11th 2011 3:11PM Mazrael said

Posted: Mar 11th 2011 6:42PM MassDragonEffectAge said

Posted: Mar 11th 2011 4:44PM CaramelZappa said

Posted: Mar 11th 2011 4:47PM CaramelZappa said

Posted: May 20th 2011 3:28PM berval said

Posted: Mar 11th 2011 6:55PM BFBeast666 said

Gears of War 3 Info

Description

MSRP

Release Date

Genre

Developer

Publisher

Rating

Breaking News

WB conjures up Harry Potter for Kinect this fall

Featured Stories

Silver Lining: I Am Alive's unfeeling world

Game Of Thrones and the paradoxes of adaptation

Super Joystiq Podcast 004: 38 Studios meltdown, Gravity Rush, Civilization 5: Gods & Kings, Dragon's Dogma

Engadget

TUAW

Massively

WoW