Gears 5 was released a little less than a week ago to widespread acclaim and, according to Microsoft, has dominated in sales and has become this generation’s biggest game launch for Xbox Game Studios.
The sixth entry in the core Gears of War franchise, Gears 5 met great reception for its tight gameplay mechanics, polished presentation, and surprisingly deep story. Up until its launch, Gears 5 had been previewed many times and was being advertised as this Holiday season’s biggest Xbox game. Needless to say, for the foreseeable future, it has accomplished exactly that.
According to a post on Microsoft’s Xbox Wire website, the game has attracted “over three million players in its opening weekend” and has been “setting new records for Xbox Game Pass with the biggest launch week of any Xbox Game Studios title this generation.” The post states that Gears 5 has exceeded the success of Gears of War 4 and is the “most-played Xbox Game Studios title in its first week since 2012’s Halo 4.” That is quite an accomplishment.
Meanwhile, on PC, Gears 5 “has nearly tripled the performance of its predecessor, becoming the biggest-ever launch for Xbox Game Pass for PC, and Xbox Game Studios’ best-ever debut on Steam.” It should be noted that these statistics include the four-day early access period, starting on September 6th, available to Gears 5 Ultimate Edition and Game Pass Ultimate members only.
The post goes on to note the praise Gears 5 has received for its accessibility functions, including “full controller remapping, single stick movement, Xbox Adaptive Controller support, narrated UI and menus, improved subtitles, and more.”
Suffice it to say that Gears 5 has simply outdone itself for Microsoft. Many expected the series to become stale after six installments. However, the game somehow keeps the series fresh, as can be seen in our Gears 5 review. This likely comes from the developer’s dedication to its fans after all these years. Also, it clearly has a gameplay style that never ages all that much.
The question remains as to whether Gears 5 can be outdone on Xbox One or PC later this Holiday season. In terms of exclusives, there isn’t much coming down the pipeline for a while, though Gears 5 will inevitably have to duke it out with games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order later this Fall.
In the meantime, adults can all enjoy a good round of chainsawing their opponents into pieces.
