With Xbox claiming the decision not to put Gears of War: E-Day on PS5 was “just made,” we get our first confirmation that Xbox is indeed backtracking on its decision to put previously exclusive games on PS5 and Switch 2.
Xbox has reportedly decided to skip Gears Of War: E-Day on PS5.
Speaking on the second day of GB at Nite, Giant Bomb's Jeff Grubb not only claimed that E-Day would no longer be coming to PS5, but also implied that it was a decision made very recently, just hours before Xbox announced today's E-Day Direct. “Let me just say this here: Gears of War: E-Day was going to be released on PS5. Not anymore. It just happened. It's a decision we just made,” Grubb said.
The Xbox Showcase will be held later today. This is the platform's biggest event of the year and the first to be broadcast under new CEO Asha Sharma. E-Day is expected to confirm the release date and have a big presence, as we've already seen an in-depth look at the new Gears of War game after the main showcase concludes.
This means that E-Day will be releasing on PS5, despite Gears generally being an Xbox-exclusive series for a variety of reasons. First of all, Xbox is now in the business of putting all of its games on other platforms, seemingly leaving exclusive games behind. Just hours before Grubb's E-Day claimed that it would no longer exist on PS5, a PlayStation listing for the first new Gears game of this decade was spotted at Walmart. That list has now been removed.
Xbox users want exclusive games
But since Asha Sharma took over as Xbox CEO and started asking the player base what changes they want to see, a return to exclusivity has become paramount. On Xbox Player Voice, a site set up to give users a voice about what they want most on Xbox, the return to exclusivity still ranks first with over 22,000 votes.
If E-Day is indeed skipping PlayStation, that could be a sign that Xbox is starting to judge exclusivity on a case-by-case basis. Gears of War: Reloaded is an upgraded version of the first Gears game, Ultimate Edition, released on PS5, marking the first time a game in the series has been released on a console other than Xbox. Unlike other exclusives that have left Xbox, it doesn't seem to have gained much popularity.
Perhaps for series like Gears that PS5 owners wouldn't mind passing up Reloaded, Xbox will keep the game exclusive. But when games like Forza Horizon 5 sold millions on PS5, it's hard to imagine Xbox stuffing the entire genie back into its exclusive bottle. For Halo: Campaign Evolved, it may be too late. However, if E-Day's claims are true, how the Halo remake sells on PS5 could determine whether future Halo games will be multiplatform.
