Previous CEO Phil Spencer had begun to take the division in a new direction, releasing some of its most popular games on rival consoles for the first time.
E-Day was widely expected to follow other high budget series such as Halo on to other companies’ machines.
But new Xbox boss Asha Sharma, who took over the job in June, announced Gears of War would remain a “console exclusive”, although a PC version has also been released.
Her strategy has been called into question by critics.
After taking six years to make and an estimated budget in the hundreds of millions, they argue that keeping E-Day away from other platforms could mean it’s less likely to make back its development cost.
Coalition studio head Mike Crump says E-Day is a “natural choice to be an exclusive”.
“Gears has been an exclusive franchise to Xbox for 20 years now. It’s sort of entwined deeply with the brand,” he says.
“And we’re proud of that.”
He says the series “carries the banner” for the console and gives people a “reason to be in the Xbox ecosystem” – something he says has been the company’s mission since day one.
However, there will inevitably be discourse around E-Day’s sales figures and engagement numbers.
When asked what would constitute success for the game, Crump admits the studio has financial targets and goals for the number of players it wants to reach, but insists it takes a “broader view” than that.
“We measure things like, are we showcasing the platform? Are we pushing the hardware to its limits? Are we showcasing what the Xbox is capable of?
“Our goal basically is to be the best-looking game on the Xbox and really show the industry what’s possible with our hardware.”
Crump also says it’s important to drive players towards Game Pass, Xbox’s Netflix-style subscription service.
