Gears Of War: E-Day–How’s It Selling? Let’s Unpack Things

Microsoft's latest console exclusive, Gears of War: E-Day, launched this week, and now we've gotten the first glimpse at how the game is performing commercially. Multiple analysts have weighed in, and there are numerous factors at play beyond pure sales, due to Game Pass and other factors. So let's break things down.

Rhys Elliott of Alinea Analytics released a report that said the game has sold about 230,000 copies so far, with Steam sales accounting for 168,000 and Xbox (across console and PC) making up the other 62,000.

Straight sales do not tell the whole story, though, because E-Day is available on Game Pass, which Elliott said "cannibalized" the majority of sales. He said Alinea's data showed than 1.7 million people acquired E-Day through their Game Pass subscription as opposed to buying a copy outright.

There is more nuance there, too, as Elliott said that 722,000 of the 1.7 million people who played E-Day through Game Pass bought the $30 …