While Gears of War: E-Day has been a hit with critics and players alike, a new report raises questions about Microsoft’s decision to make it console-exclusive to Xbox. According to Kotaku, Gears of War: E-Day’s development budget exceeded $500 million without even including marketing costs.
While the title has managed to do relatively well despite being available on Game Pass, having reportedly sold around 230,000 copies and compelling around 700,000 users to subscribe to Game Pass’s higher tiers, its development budget being so high would mean that the title would still have to sell several million more copies before it could break even.
Lending further credence to Kotaku’s report about the game’s budget is Christopher Dring of The Game Business, who said, “Yes, so this, from what I’m told, is very true. $500 million. Unbelievable.” According to ResetEra user –R, Windows Central’s Jez Corden offered similar corroboration for Kotaku’s report. “They ain’t wrong on the figure, but seems to be some disagreement among my sources how that figure was allocated between E-Day and general TC operations/ATG contributions,” he wrote in a since-deleted tweet.
It also doesn’t help matters that Xbox hasn’t yet confirmed any details about how well Gears of War: E-Day may have sold, or even how many Game Pass subscriptions it contributed towards. It likely doesn’t help that not releasing Gears of War: E-Day on PS5 has likely led to several lost sales from the platform.
However, according to Kotaku, Xbox might end up seeing greater benefits from keeping Gears of War: E-Day exclusive to the platform in the long term, especially if it continues to hang on to its positive momentum and attracts a larger player base over time, possibly even bringing in more Game Pass subscribers in the process.
Whether it will convince more potential players to buy an Xbox console remains to be seen, especially in the current state of the industry where prices have skyrocketed owing to component shortages. Similarly, Xbox itself is also having trouble stocking store shelves with its consoles, which might lead more players to pick the game up on either PC or on the next-gen Project Helix several years later.
In the meantime, Xbox seems to be keen on doubling down on the idea of exclusives. While Clockwork Revolution – an RPG slated for release next year – will also be Xbox-exclusive, the company has reportedly sent out surveys about the possibility of future games being exclusive as well.
“Imagine it was announced that all future title releases from every Xbox-developed gaming franchise except Call of Duty will be console-exclusive to Xbox,” says the survey. “For Minecraft only, existing titles would no longer be available for purchase on PlayStation or Nintendo consoles, and would not receive any new content updates. However, there is no impact to any of the existing titles or content you already own. Nothing changes on PC in this announcement.”
Gears of War: E-Day studio head Mike Crump has also spoken about the title being a natural choice for Xbox’s exclusivity strategy. For more details on the shooter – available on PC and Xbox Series X/S – take a look at our review.
