Gears of War: E-Day Estimated Sales Reach Just 230,000 in First Week, Analyst Says

Gears of War: E-Day Estimated Sales Reach Just 230,000 in First Week, Analyst Says

Updated : Oct 9, 2026 9:50pm UTC

is reportedly off to a soft start after reaching an estimated 230,000 copies sold in its first week.

The alleged sales update arrived from Alinea Analytics' head of marketing analysis, Rhys Elliott, who

shared early data for the Gears prequel

on X/Twitter. After arriving via early access last week (its full launch arrived this past Tuesday), Gears of War: E-Day has reportedly moved just 230,000 copies across PC and Xbox devices.

Steam sales account for 168,000 of that number, with Xbox sales, including both console and PC, totaling just 62,000. These numbers, which are unofficial figures that have not been backed by Microsoft in any official capacity and should be taken with a grain of salt, are low for the game leading the charge on Xbox's refocus toward exclusive games, as players shift their attention from purchasing the base experience to dipping their toes in with Game Pass.

Game Pass is seemingly to blame for its performance related to raw copies sold on Xbox-supported devices, with Elliott saying the subscription service is "cannibalising much of the premium revenue." While that's not to say Gears of War: E-Day is having trouble garnering attention – Alinea estimated that 1.7 million players have accessed the game via Game Pass – the data does suggest that players are far more interested in access through their subscriptions rather than outright owning a copy.

Of the nearly 2 million to launch Gears of War: E-Day through Game Pass, 722,000 users are believed to have paid the extra $30 to upgrade to its Premium Edition to unlock early access. Revenue earned through the Xbox ecosystem reportedly amounted to $27 million, with total earnings reaching about $37 million. How exactly Gears of War: E-Day may have factored into revenue earned through new and returning Game Pass subscriptions is currently unclear.

"While E-Day is a sublime game (it's made my top 10), these are soft numbers for a flagship when Xbox badly needs revenue wins," Elliott said. "E-Day sold 62K copies on Xbox against 722K Premium upgrades, so for every one copy sold on Xbox, nearly 12 Game Pass upgrades were sold. The $70 premium SKU is – functionally – dead on Xbox. In a world without day-one Game Pass, many of these folks would have bought E-Day at $70. They paid $30 for five days early access to something they don’t own. Xbox is, in effect, charging its most valuable customers the least, based on a hangover from a tried-and-exhausted strategy from a previous administration."