Gears of War: E-Day reportedly courts over 1.7m Xbox Game Pass players and makes over $37m since launch

Gears of War: E-Day reportedly attracted over 1.7 million Xbox Game Pass players and generated more than $37 million in revenue since its launch. According to estimates from Alinea Analytics' Rhys Elliott, a significant portion of the earnings came from Game Pass subscribers purchasing the Premium Edition upgrade for $30, which provided early access to the game.

Around 168,000 of the 230,000 copies sold were through Steam, and 62,000 through Xbox consoles and PC. Many of these players, who paid $30 for the upgrade, would have likely bought the game at full price of $70 had it not been available with early access through Game Pass. The game's success is attributed to its strong appeal to existing Gears of War fans and its comparable gameplay to other popular titles like Call of Duty, Fortnite, GTA 5, and Halo Infinite.

The game's studio, The Coalition, is optimistic about future sequels, seeking to improve the development timeline following the lengthy gap between the previous entries. However, there are concerns about post-launch layoffs within the studio, as some employees have expressed worry.