Gears 5 has been garnering fantastic reviews around the world since its early access release on September 6.
Aaron Greenberg, Xbox Games Marketing General Manager, this morning shared that Gears 5 has now, officially, become the biggest launch for any Xbox Game Studios game this generation!
Below is his piece, taken from the Xbox Wire.
Gears 5 breaks records as biggest launch for any Xbox Game Studios game this generation
by Aaron Greenberg, Xbox Games Marketing General Manager
Thanks to the incredible support from our fans, Gears 5 kicked off the Holiday season strong – attracting over three million players in its opening weekend and setting new records for Xbox Game Pass with the biggest launch week of any Xbox Game Studios title this generation. The performance easily doubled the first week’s debut of Gears of War 4 and made Gears 5 the most-played Xbox Game Studios title in its first week since 2012’s Halo 4. First week performance includes the four-day early access period beginning Friday, September 6, which was exclusive to Gears 5 Ultimate Edition and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members. On the 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.
On Tuesday, Gears 5 expanded into worldwide general availability with the launch of Gears 5 Standard Edition at retail, as well as new Xbox One X and Xbox One S console bundles. For PC fans, Gears 5 is included in a three-month Xbox Game Pass for PC membership bundled with the purchase of select AMD Ryzen™ processors and AMD Radeon™ graphics cards.
Described as “one of the best and most versatile action-game packages in recent memory” by IGN, the game is a hit with critics and fans alike, and enjoys a Metacritic user score of 8.7, the sixth best of any Xbox One game. The excitement extends to the PC version as well, with Digital Foundry declaring, “it fills every desire that I want for the PC version of a game.”
Gears 5 has also received special attention for its commitment to representation and accessibility. Accessibility features include full controller remapping, single stick movement, Xbox Adaptive Controller support, narrated UI and menus, improved subtitles, and more. It was the first AAA game to receive a perfect score from CanIPlayThat.com, “A Deaf/Hoh accessibility masterpiece.”