Former Xbox Manager Says Gears: E-Day’s Reported $500 Million Cost Covers More Than the Game

The reported $500 million cost associated with Gears of War: E-Day may not represent spending on the game alone. Former Xbox Senior Product Manager Derek Reese said The Coalition has also played a major role in supporting Microsoft’s branch of Unreal Engine, which could account for a significant portion of the figure.

Windows Central journalist Jez Corden has added further details, saying that trusted sources indicate The Coalition has contributed to several Xbox projects over the past six or seven years. The extent to which those activities are included in the reported budget remains unclear.

According to Corden, the studio spent more than a year and a half working on a prototype project for Xbox that was ultimately canceled. The Coalition also contributed to Avowed, Hellblade 2, Clockwork Revolution, State of Decay 3, Grounded, Grounded 2 and the upcoming StarCraft reboot.

The studio additionally worked with Epic Games on the “Matrix Awakens” Unreal Engine demonstration and the Alpha Point demo. Both projects were designed to showcase Unreal Engine 5 on next-generation consoles and PCs.

Corden cautioned that $500 million is a substantial investment without a clear structure explaining the value of each cost to Microsoft’s auditors. He also reported that there had been internal disagreements about how those expenses should be attributed.

Reese’s comments align with Corden’s earlier description of The Coalition as “the technological glue for all of Xbox.” Corden had previously suggested that some of the studio’s costs were distributed across Microsoft’s wider portfolio, including support for projects such as Fable and Forza Horizon.

Reese also said he believed The Coalition had achieved its objectives and delivered a strong result with E-Day. At the same time, he pointed to what he described as a pattern of departments carrying costs linked to broader leadership decisions, citing Double Fine as a recent example.

The available information therefore supports the reported $500 million figure as a wider investment associated with The Coalition, while leaving open how much was spent directly on Gears of War: E-Day. The game’s overall performance will also depend on factors including sales, Premium Upgrade conversions, Xbox Game Pass subscriptions and its ability to attract players to Xbox consoles.

Sources: Pure Xbox.