Gears Of War: E-Day Sold Just 230,000 Copies, Estimates Analyst

Game Pass Is Reportedly "Cannibalizing" Gears Of War: E-Day Sales Published Oct 10, 2026, 7:01 AM EDT James Lucas is an Executive Editor at TheGamer who has worked in professional journalism since 2018. A Newcastle University graduate with a degree in Journalism, Media, and Culture, they have written hundreds of guides, news stories, and original reports, with bylines in IGN, NME, GaymingMag, and VG247, sourcing interviews with studio heads, legendary industry figures, prominent actors, and more. An expert on FPS games, Soulslikes, RPGs, and survival horror, James has intimate knowledge of a wide variety of titles, providing in-depth coverage and exclusive profiles. Some of the games they have extensively covered include: Half-Life 3, Counter-Strike, Elden Ring, and Fallout. They pride themselves on their consistently thorough research, leveraging nearly a decade of industry experience. You can reach them at James.t@thegamer.com Sign in to your TheGamer account Gears of War: E-Day, like most Xbox exclusives, launched day one on Game Pass, but also like most exclusives, that strategy may have backfired. Alinea Analytics reports that E-Day has sold an estimated 230,000 copies since launching in advanced access on October 1, with Steam accounting for 168,000 of those sales. Head of market analysis Rhys Elliott claims that Game Pass is "cannibalizing much of the premium revenue," with 1.7 million players accessing the game via the service. An estimated 722,000 of whom paid $30 for the five-day early access period, meaning roughly 950,000 people have paid for E-Day in some fashion. While that might sound good on paper, E-Day has generated an estimated $37 million in revenue, a slow start for what should be a tentpole Xbox exclusive, as nearly 12 upgrades were sold for every copy purchased outright. In so many words, subscribers are completely circumventing the $70 premium. Could Gears Of War Go The Way Of Call Of Duty? Xbox Now that Xbox is chasing an unreasonable 1 billion daily players and doubling down on its biggest franchises, figures like these make for worrying reading. We don't know E-Day's budget (the $400 million figure reported pre-launch has been widely discredited), but $37 million is almost certainly below expectations. Game Pass cannibalizing Call of Duty sales has already forced Xbox to rethink its plans for day-one launches, and it'll be interesting to see how it responds to Gears of War: E-Day now facing the same problem. However, Microsoft has yet to confirm official sales figures or reveal how E-Day has impacted Game Pass subscriptions. It's entirely possible that 1.7 million players is enough to call the launch a success, but it's equally possible that just 230,000 copies sold is ringing alarm bells at The Coalition. Systems Released October 6, 2026 ESRB Mature 17+ / Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Strong Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact Developer(s) The Coalition Publisher(s) Xbox Game Studios Engine Unreal Engine 5 Genre(s) Third-Person Shooter, Action, Adventure, Horror