Gears 5 attracts 3 million players in its opening weekend

Gears 5 is off to a strong start on Xbox One, fuelled by the game’s availability on subscription service Xbox Game Pass.

While the general Gears 5 release date was September 10, 2019, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers were be able to play it from 9pm local time on September 5.

The game attracted three million players in its opening weekend and recorded the “biggest launch week” for a first-party Xbox One title, taking into account the early access period.

“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,” Microsoft said.

“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.”

Gears 5 debuted at No.2 on the UK chart, which only accounts for physical sales, behind Borderlands 3. The Xbox shooter’s boxed sales were down approximately 75% compared to Gears of War 4’s launch week total in 2016.

VGC’s Gears 5 review said the title masterfully reinvents the series. See what other critics thought of the game in our Gears 5 review round-up.

Microsoft recently detailed its Gears 5 post-launch DLC plans, which will include significant content drops every three months focusing on “earnable free content”.

Gears 5 is available to order now from retailers including Amazon (US) and Base.com (UK).