Update #2 [Fri 30th Oct 2026, 7:30pm]: In yet another update on this, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier has weighed in on the rumour.
Schreier was discussing BioWare's recent closure when he threw out the Gears of War mention:
"The reality is that BioWare was shut down for the same reason that game companies have been laying off tens of thousands of people over the last few years, which is that game budgets have grown exponentially and become more and more expensive for these companies to make.
We just saw Gears of War: E-Day cost $500 million to Xbox. That is a real number, that is real. That's what we're looking at here - that's what games cost to make, especially in North America these days."
Update #1 [Thu 22nd Oct 2026, 10pm]:
Both Chris Dring of The Game Business and Jez Corden of Windows Central have shared their updated thoughts on this today, with Jez now suggesting that the $500 million figure is correct but he's still not sure how it's distributed.
Original Story: Ever wondered how much money went into Gears of War: E-Day's release this year? Well, we don't have any official figures on this, but a "source" for Kotaku has claimed that Xbox put over $500 million into it.
Their report claims that it's a "source familiar with Xbox’s business", and that the $500 million figure doesn't actually include marketing for the game either. Microsoft apparently didn't respond when asked for comment on this.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.purexbox.com/news/2026/10/rumours-persist-that-xbox-spent-usd500-million-on-gears-of-war-e-day-despite-some-objections
