Gears of War: E-Day exclusivity has not boosted Xbox hardware sales, analyst says

Making Gears of War: E-Day an Xbox exclusive has not improved the platform's hardware sales trend, according to Circana analyst Mat Piscatella. Piscatella says the exclusivity has not made a difference to the hardware trend, which he notes is getting worse. This comes as Microsoft reported a 14 percent fall in Xbox hardware sales during the latest quarter. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma attributed this decline to the company being unable to meet demand.

Gears of War: E-Day · official art via IGDB

Piscatella also noted that other recent changes, such as the disc-to-digital program, have not changed the trend for new physical software sales. He says removing Call of Duty from Game Pass resulted in a loss of player engagement without providing any benefit. In contrast, Piscatella says the PS5-exclusive Marvel’s Wolverine helped boost PlayStation 5 sales and its DualSense controller was the best-selling accessory of the month. He adds that while Xbox may receive social media engagement from its fan base, he sees no tangible difference in actual sales results.

Background In early October, employees at The Coalition reported concerns about possible layoffs following the game's launch. Our earlier story