Gears of War: E-Day reportedly sold around 400,000 copies in its first month, according to The Verge. The figure has helped fuel claims that the Xbox console exclusive was a commercial failure. But journalist Jason Schreier says that judging the game by its reported production cost and unit sales alone can be misleading.
Schreier has argued that companies use different accounting methods, making production budgets difficult to compare. He also noted that reported figures can be shaped by how each company records costs and revenue.
Multiple sources told Windows Central that the reported $500 million associated with E-Day does not cover only the game’s development. The figure is said to include other projects, tools and The Coalition’s wider operations over the past six to seven years.
The Coalition also provides technical support for other Xbox projects and develops tools and Unreal Engine 5 workflows. According to the report, those activities were included in the $500 million figure.
Schreier also pointed to Xbox Game Pass as another part of the financial picture for Microsoft’s first-party games. The company’s finance team assigns an internal value based on subscribers’ playtime, which is credited to a studio’s results. This measure is known as member weighted value.
That approach means unit sales alone do not establish whether an Xbox game has succeeded or failed. However, some studio leaders have criticized the company for not making clear how Game Pass engagement translates into financial returns or what targets studios are expected to meet.
Windows Central raised the possibility that the $500 million figure may have been inflated internally to justify potential layoffs at The Coalition, but said it had no knowledge of any planned cuts at the studio.
Sources: Canaltech.