Gears of War: E-Day Online Services Hit by DDoS Attack

Last week, Alinea Analytics’ head of marketing analysis, Rhys Elliott, reported that E-Day had sold an estimated 230,000 copies in its first week in what was described as a soft start. These unofficial figures, which are not backed by data provided by Microsoft, pointed to Xbox subscription service Game Pass as cannibalizing sales.

Earlier this month, the boss of The Coalition responded to reports that staff at the studio were worried they might lose their jobs amid the ongoing cuts at Xbox, promising the next Gears game wouldn’t take as long to make.

Eurogamer had reported on internal concern that layoffs would hit The Coalition after the release of E-Day. “The mood is certainly ‘let’s not celebrate the game until we’re three months post launch, just in case,’ which is very unusual,” one source told the site. “We’re just expecting the next wave [of layoffs], or being reorganized under Activision or something later this year,” claimed another.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma’s “reset” of Microsoft’s gaming business has seen nearly 2,000 people cut already this financial year, with more to come. A number of studios have left the business or are in the process of closing down. Microsoft has also reorganized its studios, bringing Halo and Sea of Thieves developer Rare under Call of Duty developer Activision, and Grounded developer Obsidian under Fallout developer Bethesda.

Of course, Gears of War: E-Day was selected to be an Xbox Series X and S and PC game, ditching any release for a sales-boosting PS5 version. The Coalition studio head Mike Crump recently told the BBC that success for E-Day goes behind sales, saying: “We measure things like, are we showcasing the platform? Are we pushing the hardware to its limits? Are we showcasing what the Xbox is capable of? …Our goal basically is to be the best-looking game on the Xbox and really show the industry what’s possible with our hardware.”