Earlier this year, it was reported that Gears of War: E-Day cost $400 million to make, meaning it would need to become the best-selling entry in the franchise just to recoup its development costs. However, a new report suggests the budget may have been even higher.

Windows Central refuted Insider Gaming's initial $400 million estimate in June, arguing that it failed to account for The Coalition's work supporting other studios under the Xbox umbrella. However, Kotaku now claims that a source close to Xbox's plans put the budget at over $500 million.

To recoup its development budget before marketing, Gears of War: E-Day would likely need to sell over 10 million copies. For comparison, Gears of War 2, the best-selling entry in the series, reportedly sold 6.75 million copies. E-Day is nowhere close.

Shortly after launch, Alinea Analytics reported that the game had sold 230,000 copies, most of them on Steam, where Valve takes a 30% cut. 1.7 million subscribers also played the game via Game Pass, but only 722,000 of those paid $30 for advanced access. Alinea estimates that altogether the game has generated $37 million in revenue, equal to 7.4% of its reported budget.

Launching on PS5 may have helped, but Kotaku's source suggests that E-Day was unlikely to recoup its costs regardless of the platforms it launched on, and that the game may instead be used to rebuild activity on Xbox. They aren't wrong. 4 million.

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