Gears of War: E-Day Is Out Today. Ninja Theory Is Being Shut Down.

The short version

• Gears of War: E-Day is out today on Xbox Series X|S and PC, at $69.99 and on Game Pass from day one.
• It sits at 88 on OpenCritic from 69 reviews, with 91% of critics recommending it. OpenCritic rates it "Mighty."
• On October 5, Microsoft began closing Ninja Theory, the Hellblade studio, after two attempts to sell it fell through.
• Hellblade 3 was in development for 2027. It won't be finished.

What you get today

The campaign is a prequel about Emergence Day, with a young Marcus and Dom. Multiplayer ships alongside it: Versus returns as 4v4, and the new Horde Siege puts 12 players in three squads of four on one map.

Critics praise the shooting and movement. The story and the semi-open areas are where they split. Our review roundup goes through both sides.

What happened at Ninja Theory

Microsoft had planned to close or sell the studio since June. Two sale deals collapsed, and on October 5 the UK redundancy process started. Xbox content chief Matt Booty said Microsoft will "begin consultation with employees on a proposed closure while continuing to explore other paths forward."

A gameplay programmer at the studio, Katrin Mair, put it simply: "It's incredibly sad knowing that we won't get to finish what we were working on."

Ninja Theory also cancelled Project Mara in June. Hellblade 2 came out in 2024.

It isn't only one studio

• Supermassive Games (Until Dawn, The Dark Pictures) cut more than 70 people over the summer.
• The Coalition, the studio that made E-Day, lost its story director, Juan Vaca, weeks before launch.
• Microsoft announced more than 3,200 job cuts across its gaming business in July.

Our take, on paper

E-Day shows Xbox can still deliver a big first-party game. It doesn't explain why the company keeps shrinking the group of people who make them, and a shut studio doesn't make the next one.

For the wider picture, see our post on what E-Day means for Xbox.

What to watch: whether The Coalition stays intact past late October, when its launch bonuses are due.