"It appeals to a wider audience than a hardcore game like Gears of War,"
GoW isn't a hardcore think-5-moves-ahead game, some gamers call it "peak-a-boo with guns" and while is IMHO a great game it's not that challenging either, and except for the gore I don't see any reason anyone couldn't play the game...

Anyone but angrydrawville casuals, and that's setting the bar low, really low, for a AAA game

It will probably be f2p but in any case Epic is walking on thin ice, and might sacrifice it's gamer userbase for a casual one, which btw doesn't likes to pay for games most of the time and has the attention span of a beagle on crack, so there goes loyalty and with it presales, special editions and all the other junk casuals dont buy because they dont care.