A week after the Xbox Games Showcase, we’re still buzzing about that Gears of War: E-Day Direct. As the newest title in the series since 2019’s Gears 5, it’s going back to where it all began, and touting bleeding-edge visuals in the process. Realistic real-time destruction, fully dynamic ray-traced lighting, 350+ facial shapes for each character’s head to convey a range of emotions – the list goes on, and as you’d expect, it costs a bomb to develop.
What you probably didn’t expect is that it’s allegedly “upwards of $400 million,” according to Tom Henderson. On the latest Insider Gaming podcast, he called the budget “insane,” and criticized the decision to make it an Xbox console exclusive, which was reportedly made “five or six weeks ago.” That would certainly line up with the now-pulled trailer featuring the PS5 logo and run counter to The Coalition claiming that it was never in the works for PS5.
Such massive budgets for big-name games are nothing new nowadays – even Marathon reportedly cost nearly $250 million to develop. But you have to remember that marketing has only just begun and that $400 million-plus figure probably doesn’t account for post-launch support. The Coalition confirmed a seasonal roadmap, but it didn’t specify exactly what fans could expect (though new Versus maps seem a given).
Gears of War: E-Day launches on October 6th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. You can head here to learn more about all the new features, but suffice it to say that Xbox has an uphill battle with making it a success.
