Recent reports claim that Gears of War: E-Day has cost Xbox up to $500 million in production costs over the years, a budget so high that the game would need to sell between 7 to 9 million copies just to break even.
Former Xbox Senior Product Manager Derek Reese has now clarified that the $500 million budget was not entirely used for the development of Gears of War: E-Day.
Derek Reese explained on social media that The Coalition, the developer of Gears of War: E-Day, has faced various operational costs over the past few years. A significant portion of this stems from Microsoft's custom Unreal Engine and the development work for Gears of War: E-Day over the years.
A report from Windows Central insider Jez Corden also clarified that The Coalition has collaborated with other studios using Unreal Engine, such as those that developed Avowed, Hellblade II, State of Decay 3, and the upcoming StarCraft reboot. Over the years, various other operational costs have further increased the $500 million budget.
Gears of War: E-Day currently has total sales of just over 400,000 copies on Steam and Xbox platforms, with rumors suggesting that Game Pass cannibalized most of its sales. Additionally, sales for the IP are no longer at their peak.
Although The Coalition's CEO has hinted at it, we still do not know if new titles will be released for the series in the future.
Although the $500 million figure for Gears of War: E-Day has been debunked, players on social media are mocking its 400,000 sales volume, noting it is being outperformed by the recently released Chinese AAA game Phantom Blade Zero:
