Microsoft’s Execute Vice President of gaming, Phil Spencer, confirmed at the X019 event that despite Gears 5’s inclusion in the Xbox Game Pass, the game outsold Gears of War 4. In an interview with Eurogamer, Spencer pointed out that the company’s decision to launch the game on both Game Pass and standalone was a good move, as it clearly shows that the demand for standalone titles is very much there.
Although Spencer did not provide any concrete numbers on how many copies of Gears 5 have been sold so far, the game managed to sell three million copies during its opening weekend from what we know.
Spencer also added, “Gears 5 sold well for us. It sold better than Gears 4. And we feel good about it. If people want to choose buying Gears, that's an option we want to give them. I'm not trying to funnel everybody who wants to play Gears into the [Xbox Game Pass] subscription. It's about giving gamers [a] choice. Certain players will make the decision as part of Game Pass that they'll either want to start to subscribe, or they're already a subscriber and they stay subscribed.”
It is becoming quite trickier to define what a successful game launch looks like with the rise of subscription services like Xbox Game Pass, which is also available to PC players. Despite this, Microsoft insists Gears 5 had the best launch in the Gears series.
Gears 5 released on September 10, almost three years after Gears of War 4. Gears 5 is a direct sequel to the events that occurred in Gears of Wars 4 and does an incredible job in telling the Gears’ tale. Nonetheless, Gears 5 managed to correct the flaws that Gears of War 4 had and released a polished game that plays out phenomenally well.
