Epic president wanted to cut Gears' multiplayer, Mad World ad

by Justin McElroy { Oct 29th 2007 at 3:55PM }

Even presidents are human, and as such, they are prone to errors. But Epic president Mike Capps recently revealed that he almost made two mistakes of (sorry) epic proportions when it came to Gears of War. First and most troubling is that he had considered pulling multiplayer from the game because it wasn't moving quickly enough. (Boy, that would have made that eight-hour single player campaign a much more bitter pill, wouldn't it?) Also, he said he wanted to scrap the famous ad set to the brilliant Gary Jules' equally brilliant "Mad World" because, he says, "I thought it was stupid; I was like 'What are you thinking? Nobody knows Donnie Darko any more.'" Wow. Just, wow. Watch the above video to see how great things could have been.

The good news in all this is that either Capps' conscience or employees convinced him in the end to do the right thing. Also, Epic now has an iron-clad recipe for success: Find out what Mike Capps says you should do, and then do the exact opposite.

Tags: epic, gearsofwar, mikecapps

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Akamaru @ Oct 29th 2007 4:00PM

Donnie Darko is great. Good thing they didn't listen to him!

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Oct 29th 2007 4:03PM

indeed. A bit of a mind fuck, but a great movie.

Also Mad Mad world is fucking amazing

gonk @ Oct 29th 2007 9:23PM

good song, terrible movie

Slaziman @ Oct 29th 2007 4:01PM

Haha, epic proportions indeed!

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Oct 29th 2007 4:04PM

I still would have bought it even without multiplayer.

Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler). @ Oct 29th 2007 4:23PM

Same here,The campaign was simply great I play it 4 times.

The multiplayer is also good but I wish every match wasn't in the same 3 maps over and over.

xXFenixKnight13Xx @ Oct 29th 2007 4:36PM

I got Gears and a month later I finally got Live, best decision ever. I hear you about the maps, Gridlock check, Canals check, Raven down check. I like all of them =(

cybereality @ Oct 29th 2007 4:07PM

'Nobody knows Donnie Darko any more.'

Yeah, sure. Because my short-term memory only lasts 3 days at a time. Guess I gotta get that memory augmentation plasmid I've been hearing so much about.

CAL_GORE @ Oct 29th 2007 4:09PM

"Also, Epic now has an iron-clad recipe for success: Find out what Mike Capps says you should do, and then do the exact opposite."

I lol'd.

nes @ Oct 29th 2007 4:14PM

yeah, granted the single player was short, but the online vs. mode is terrible. i would have much rather seen that energy go into more single player levels. as for the mad world campaign, it was very well done.

Bloo @ Oct 29th 2007 4:18PM

And I think it's the best MP ever by far and I've been doing MP since Doom and Duke Nukem. Me and several other people on my friends list still play almost daily (but still squeeze in Halo 3, Forza 2, Puzzle Quest etc)

aditar @ Oct 29th 2007 4:10PM

This is just PR for the PC release.

baby sea tuna @ Oct 29th 2007 4:11PM

"Boy, that would have made that eight-hour single player campaign a much more bitter pill, wouldn't it?"

*coughHeavenlySwordcough*

Jerk Face @ Oct 29th 2007 4:19PM

LOL

Matt B @ Oct 29th 2007 4:22PM

*coughhalo3cough*

DemonGSides @ Oct 29th 2007 4:25PM

Except, you are totally wrong. Halo 3 had a 15 hours Campaign, if you played it correctly.

On legendary.

With one Friend.

baby sea tuna @ Oct 29th 2007 4:42PM

...and has pretty much unlimited replay value due to multiplayer, the theater, Forge, and the campaign meta-game.

Thanks for playing, Matt B.

bl13 @ Oct 29th 2007 5:45PM

"Except, you are totally wrong. Halo 3 had a 15 hours Campaign, if you played it correctly."

I realize Halo 3 has multiplayer and Heavenly Sword doesn't, but by that line of reasoning Heavenly Sword has a 20 hour campaign - beat Hell mode with all the glyphs. Having harder difficulties, etc. does add value, but if you're comparing single player length please stick to first playthough time on standard difficulty.

Grapefruit Juice @ Oct 29th 2007 5:59PM

coughbioshockcough

gonk @ Oct 29th 2007 9:28PM

but bioshock is actually really good. and it took me a little over 20 hours for my 1st playthrough. I'll do a "good" playthrough in another couple months :)

awesome game

Kylearan @ Oct 29th 2007 4:14PM

Gears of what?

Pfft. Nobody knows that game anymore.

Yeah, right.

KiraXD @ Oct 29th 2007 4:16PM

overall i didnt really like the game.... but that video was one of my favorite video game trailers ever and pushed me to buy the game.... it did its purpose very well... if they scrapped that commercial... that would have definitely been a bad move.

Chris @ Oct 29th 2007 4:17PM

Did anyone actually play the video???

Classic!

Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler). @ Oct 29th 2007 4:20PM

I have it on my PSP,XB360 and PC if I had a normal Ipod(Mini FTW) you bet it would be in it.

ALH @ Oct 29th 2007 4:53PM

i would have laughed harder if the music was rick astley

Slaziman @ Oct 29th 2007 5:00PM

LMAO, and even harder if it was Never gonna give you up

Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler). @ Oct 29th 2007 5:34PM

Rick astley or Tay Zonday would have been better choices but maybe they thing it was a bit over used.

ThornedVenom @ Oct 29th 2007 4:18PM

Close call, Epic, close call.

Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler). @ Oct 29th 2007 4:19PM

Cut Mad world?! One of the best ads the world have ever seen?! yeah that would be Epic Fail.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Oct 29th 2007 5:05PM

Get it, because the companies name is "Epic"!?!?

DemonGSides @ Oct 29th 2007 4:26PM

I've never seen Donnie Darko, but that song is amazing.

Also, I'm not a preteen. I'm in college, so don't go flaming me for it.

Chris @ Oct 29th 2007 4:29PM

What does being a preteen have to do with Donnie Darko? I saw it in college. You should be flamed for being in college and NOT having seen Donnie Darko..... It's a perfect college age film.

License to ill @ Oct 29th 2007 4:29PM

I always thought Darko was overrated...

Chris @ Oct 29th 2007 4:29PM

Well I think you are overrated

-1 heart thingie...

j/k

baby sea tuna @ Oct 29th 2007 4:46PM

Incredibly overrated (with the notable exception of the line "Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.")

I return your heart thingy.

ill trooper @ Oct 29th 2007 4:51PM

I'll go on record as someone who didn't enjoy Donnie Darko as much as I wanted to... And I did want to - I saw it the week it opened, the first time around, not the director's cut, however. I guess I'll have to give it another try. I like the cycling scenes in the hills (reminiscent of 'Jules et Jim')...

I am looking forward to 'Southland Tales,' however - the director's new film about life after a terrorist attack and living in the police state that America becomes.

WiNG @ Oct 29th 2007 4:59PM

I don't think it's overrated but I love how a movie like "Donnie Darko" or "Fight Club" or "Memento" comes out and everyone and their mom is a philosopher.

Stoner: Dude did you see Donnie Darko?
Me: Yeah, why?
Stoner: Dude, what if... the future... is actually the past?
Me: Just... kill yourself.

To change that conversation from "Stoner" to "Sorostitute", replace all instances of "dude" with "like".

VampireHunter Z @ Oct 29th 2007 4:32PM

Damn suits! They are so annoying at my job. Where the fuck do they get their ideas from?

VampireHunter Z @ Oct 29th 2007 4:34PM

Damn suits! They are so annoying at my job. Where the fuck do they get their ideas from?

Hope I didn't double post.

Mojo @ Oct 29th 2007 4:35PM

tehe.
That video sure makes me chuckle.

ill trooper @ Oct 29th 2007 4:35PM

Well, hindsight is certainly 20/20, and since this game did so well, it's easy to question anything that seemed like it would have changed it for the worse. But those decisions didn't actually happen, as we have both multiplayer, and that overly 'senty' commercial.

And this sums up the ever-so-kneejerk "LOL/Douchebag" internet, even if it's only in jest: "Epic now has an iron-clad recipe for success: Find out what Mike Capps says you should do, and then do the exact opposite." Yeah, ok... Except by nature of what you're saying, 'Gears of War' would never have been made.

Begs the question: What else have we missed due to shortsightedness or even simple cost/time related issues? Maybe Nintendo should have put that multiplayer in Metroid Prime...

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Oct 29th 2007 5:06PM

Damn right they should have!

DBuck_Eye @ Oct 29th 2007 4:41PM

I never thought Gears' multiplayer was that great. I never really played it online, but it isn't something like Halo or Smash Bros where I keep wanting to go back to it. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that after September 25 anyone said, "Well the multiplayer is good, but why don't we stick to Gears?"

Viridium @ Oct 29th 2007 4:48PM

I'm correcting you, DBuck_Eye. My crew was disappointed with the Halo 3 multiplayer, overall. Several of them have traded the game in already. I'm still giving it a chance, but on our weekly gaming night, it's Gears that goes in the 360.

Mr Khan @ Oct 29th 2007 5:24PM

My friends seem to have recorded that effect too

The same people who played Halo 2 for practically a year straight are already putting down Halo 3 for whatever else there is (Call of Duty Four, although some are waiting patiently for Army of Two and Brawl for their multiplayer fixes)

Bowie @ Oct 29th 2007 4:51PM

Gears has decent Online Multiplayer....if everyone didn't quit every freakin' 5 seconds because their losing 2 - 0. If there was a system to punish frequent quiters, it would be much better.

rv @ Oct 29th 2007 4:58PM

I play only unranked and I have a blast with either friends or people I don't know. Fuck ranked.

rv @ Oct 29th 2007 4:58PM

I have 2 problems with the game. 1- Who the fuck is the lady that keeps talking in both sp and mp.
2- Where the fuck did the missiles on the train come from? It was like right after the house somehow there was missiles on a train...

Shotgun hit then shoot ftw!!!!