Gears of War: E-Day Reportedly Cost $500 Million to Make

Ever wonder how much it costs to bring a blockbuster game like Gears of War back to its roots? Apparently, a whole lot. Multiple reports claim that Gears of War: E-Day had a staggering $500 million budget.

Both Kotaku and Chris Dring of The Game Business reported the figure today, with Kotaku noting it doesn't include marketing costs. Jez Corden of Windows Central added that the number isn't wrong, but his sources can't confirm whether it covers just the game's budget or also includes costs for running The Coalition, the studio behind it. Either way, it's clear E-Day was an expensive production.

But here's the thing: early sales don't look too hot. The game reportedly sold 230,000 copies across Xbox and PC. However, that number doesn't tell the full story because E-Day is also available on Xbox Game Pass. In fact, the game reached nearly 2 million players right out of the gate, and that number is only going to grow.

Game Pass is a beast for Microsoft, generating almost $5 billion annually from subscriptions alone. To put it in perspective, a $500 million budget would be about 10% of that yearly Game Pass revenue. That's a big chunk, but Microsoft can probably swing it.

Industry expert Mike Futter reacted to the report, saying, "Exclusivity on console games simply does not make sense right now," even if the budget were half that. E-Day was expected to launch on PS5—Microsoft's own materials showed it—but it never came to Sony's console. Reports suggest Microsoft canceled the PS5 version at the last minute, with some saying the game was sent out to die on purpose. We've reached out to Xbox for comment.

Interestingly, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has said she wants to bring back exclusives, a shift from the multiplatform approach under Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond. E-Day is a prequel to the Gears series, telling the story of Emergence Day, and it received generally solid reviews, including a 7/10 here at GameSpot. No new Gears games have been confirmed, but The Coalition says the foundation is in place to make an E-Day sequel faster. Plus, Netflix is working on a Gears of War movie and TV series.

So, what do you think? Is $500 million too much for a single game, or is this just the new normal for blockbusters? Will you be picking up E-Day, or are you sticking with Game Pass? Let us know!