Gears of War: E-Day Reportedly Cost Over $500 Million

Gears of War: E-Day reportedly cost more than $500 million to develop, excluding marketing, according to an anonymous source familiar with Xbox’s business. Microsoft has not confirmed the figure, and reports differ on how much of the spending was for the game itself rather than shared studio work. The reported sum was relayed by Kotaku and attributed to one source. Chris Dring of The Game Business separately said he had heard the figure was accurate. Neither account constitutes an official budget disclosure, and Microsoft did not comment when asked, according to one report. The figure’s allocation is disputed. Jez Corden of Windows Central had previously challenged an earlier estimate above $400 million, arguing that The Coalition also develops technology and provides support for other Xbox studios. Corden later accepted the figure above $500 million while saying sources disagreed about how much should be assigned to E-Day, general Coalition operations and contributions from the Advanced Technology Group. No official accounting breakdown has been provided. Alinea Analytics estimated that E-Day sold about 230,000 copies and generated roughly $37 million in its first week. Those...