Xbox's $500m Game Is Flopping
Take the Trainwell quiz at https://go.trainwell.net/bellularnews to get matched with your personal trainer and start 14 days free
Gears of War: E-Day reportedly cost $500 million, but its sales are nowhere near covering that bill. What did the money actually pay for, and why would Xbox give up PlayStation sales to make it exclusive? We look at the budget, Game Pass and the bet Xbox is making on its own future.
Join us at https://bellular.games for early access content, 20 editions of 'Loading Screen' a month and to support our team!
00:00 Xbox’s $500m Bet
00:49 The Coalition... Who?
04:24 Never Had A Chance
06:10 Accounting For Taste
08:37 Considering Exclusivity
11:55 Their Ecosystem Play
Sources:
https://kotaku.com/the-case-for-exclusivity-when-gears-of-war-e-day-cost-over-500-million-to-make-2000747986
https://www.thegamebusiness.com/p/500-million-gears-of-war-cannot-happen
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2026-grand-theft-auto-6-making-of/
https://www.gamefile.news/p/call-of-duty-budgets-development-costs-black-ops-modern-warfare
https://bellular.games/the-spider-man-2-post-mortem-are-aaa-games-sustainable/
https://x.com/superhys/status/2086818332171182544
https://x.com/superhys/status/2108586395325411452
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7508207178269315072/
https://x.com/MikeyJayRaymond/status/2113362419871576149?s=20
https://www.twitch.tv/giantbomb/clip/SpotlessBloodyLadiesPastaThat-ZILmut94jN34KbHa?range=7d
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/xbox-game-pass-revenue-reached-103000343.html
https://www.ign.com/articles/gears-of-war-e-day-studio-boss-insists-the-next-game-will-not-take-nearly-as-long-to-make-responds-to-layoff-concern
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/xbox-pulls-gears-video-featuring-a-ps5-logo-24-hours-after-announcing-it-as-an-exclusive/
https://bsky.app/profile/matpiscatella.bsky.social/post/3myhpvucxlc23
https://bsky.app/profile/matpiscatella.bsky.social/post/3myhqvi3ej323
https://bsky.app/profile/matpiscatella.bsky.social/post/3myklruosfs2p
https://kotaku.com/xbox-isnt-sharing-us-digital-sales-data-anymore-2000726257
https://www.thegamebusiness.com/p/wolverine-lifts-ps5-but-xbox-struggles
Gears of War: E-Day reportedly cost $500 million, but its sales are nowhere near covering that bill. What did the money actually pay for, and why would Xbox give up PlayStation sales to make it exclusive? We look at the budget, Game Pass and the bet Xbox is making on its own future.
Join us at https://bellular.games for early access content, 20 editions of 'Loading Screen' a month and to support our team!
00:00 Xbox’s $500m Bet
00:49 The Coalition... Who?
04:24 Never Had A Chance
06:10 Accounting For Taste
08:37 Considering Exclusivity
11:55 Their Ecosystem Play
Sources:
https://kotaku.com/the-case-for-exclusivity-when-gears-of-war-e-day-cost-over-500-million-to-make-2000747986
https://www.thegamebusiness.com/p/500-million-gears-of-war-cannot-happen
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2026-grand-theft-auto-6-making-of/
https://www.gamefile.news/p/call-of-duty-budgets-development-costs-black-ops-modern-warfare
https://bellular.games/the-spider-man-2-post-mortem-are-aaa-games-sustainable/
https://x.com/superhys/status/2086818332171182544
https://x.com/superhys/status/2108586395325411452
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7508207178269315072/
https://x.com/MikeyJayRaymond/status/2113362419871576149?s=20
https://www.twitch.tv/giantbomb/clip/SpotlessBloodyLadiesPastaThat-ZILmut94jN34KbHa?range=7d
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/xbox-game-pass-revenue-reached-103000343.html
https://www.ign.com/articles/gears-of-war-e-day-studio-boss-insists-the-next-game-will-not-take-nearly-as-long-to-make-responds-to-layoff-concern
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/xbox-pulls-gears-video-featuring-a-ps5-logo-24-hours-after-announcing-it-as-an-exclusive/
https://bsky.app/profile/matpiscatella.bsky.social/post/3myhpvucxlc23
https://bsky.app/profile/matpiscatella.bsky.social/post/3myhqvi3ej323
https://bsky.app/profile/matpiscatella.bsky.social/post/3myklruosfs2p
https://kotaku.com/xbox-isnt-sharing-us-digital-sales-data-anymore-2000726257
https://www.thegamebusiness.com/p/wolverine-lifts-ps5-but-xbox-struggles
k play/pause · j/l ±10 s · m mute · f fullscreen · t theatre · shift+n next
