Gears 5 has set a new record for the biggest launch of an Xbox Game Studios game this generation. Gears 5 sales brought more than three million players to the first-party Xbox One game in its opening weekend.
Gears 5 was the most-played Xbox Game Studios title in its first week since 2012’s Halo 4 on the Xbox 360, according to a Microsoft press release. Other major Xbox Game Studios titles this generation include Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Halo 5: Guardians, Sea of Thieves, and Crackdown 3.
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In addition to enjoying the most successful launch of a first-party Xbox One game, Gears 5 set records for the most successful Xbox Game Pass launch and the biggest Xbox Game Pass on PC launch, even becoming the first game to successfully dethrone Fortnite as Xbox Live’s most played game. Gears 5 also marked the biggest launch of any Xbox Game Studios game on Steam. First-week Gears 5 sales doubled that of Gears of War 4 on consoles, and the game has “tripled the performance” of Gears of War 4 on PC.
Since first-week Gears 5 player numbers include those who picked the game up through Xbox Game Pass, we don’t know how many of those three million players purchased the game individually or simply already had access to it via their Xbox Game Pass subscription. Microsoft also notes that the first week performance data includes a four-day early access period available to Gears 5 Ultimate Edition purchasers and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.
In GameRevolution’s Gears 5 review, we found that the Gears 5 campaign was interesting at first but stumbled in later acts, and the open world sections could frustrate some. The other Gears 5 modes, like the cooperative Horde and Escape modes, fared better, but suffered from the inclusion of worrying microtransactions. GameRevolution gave the game a 4 out of 5, which happens to be the same score as our Gears of War 4 review.
