500 million dollars for a single game: Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier says that Gears of War: E-Day cost Xbox half a billion. And he explicitly stresses that this figure is not a rumor.

Honestly, I had to look at that number twice. If you follow games industry news, you know Jason Schreier. The Bloomberg reporter is one of the most plugged-in journalists in gaming, with sources at seemingly every studio, and he's built a reputation for behind-the-scenes reporting on how games actually get made. When it comes to leaks and insider info, he's the go-to guy. Now Schreier has talked about the closure of BioWare in his YouTube video "The Real Reason EA Shut Down BioWare" from October 31, 2026. As an example of exploding costs, he pointed to none other than the new shooter from The Coalition.

What Jason Schreier actually said

According to Schreier, BioWare was shut down for the same reason tens of thousands of people in the games industry have lost their jobs in recent years: budgets have grown exponentially. Then comes the sentence this is all about (at around 21:40 in the video):

"We just saw Gears of War: E-Day cost $500 million to Xbox. That is a real number, that is real. That's what we're looking at here, that's what games cost to make, especially in North America these days."

Important: Microsoft itself has never officially disclosed the budget of Gears of War: E-Day. This is Schreier's statement based on his sources, not a confirmation from Xbox. That said, Schreier is known for not throwing such numbers around lightly.

Where the 500 million dollars come from

The figure has been floating around for a while. Back in the summer, after the game was shown at the Xbox Showcase, claims circulated that E-Day had cost more than 400 million dollars. At the end of October, several industry sources then reported more than 500 million dollars, and that is before marketing. Schreier has now clearly confirmed that ballpark.

What remains unclear is what exactly the sum includes. Some voices say it might also cover the costs of The Coalition's entire work between Gears 5 and E-Day. The studio also supports other teams within Xbox, for example with Unreal Engine. Whether this is a pure game budget or a multi-year studio budget cannot be cleanly separated from the outside.

Why this is so delicate for Xbox

Gears of War: E-Day launched on October 6, 2026 for Xbox Series X|S and PC and was included in Game Pass at launch. That is exactly what makes the math difficult: a game that many people play through a subscription first has to earn back half a billion dollars. For Xbox Game Studios, this comes at a time when Microsoft is already cutting costs and restructuring.

For me, the number shows one thing above all: AAA games are becoming so expensive that even big publishers are taking fewer and fewer risks. In the same video, Schreier says that exactly this cost pressure leads to layoffs, studio closures and a focus on a few big franchises. BioWare is the latest and saddest example.

For comparison: even big Sony exclusives of this console generation are said to have cost significantly less, according to previous reports. At 500 million dollars, E-Day would therefore be among the most expensive games ever made. And that is despite the fact that the Gears series, while having a loyal fan base, has never been in the sales league of GTA or Call of Duty. That makes it all the more interesting to see how Microsoft continues with the franchise.

Here is Jason Schreier's video

Images from Gears of War: E-Day

You can find our in-depth review of Gears of War: E-Day here on PlayInsider. What do you think: is 500 million dollars for a Gears game still justifiable?