A temporary placeholder listing for a PlayStation 5 version of Gears of War: E-Day surfaced on Walmart’s website before being abruptly taken down. The leak appeared less than 24 hours before Microsoft’s scheduled June 7 Xbox Games Showcase. The listing priced the standard edition of the tactical third-person shooter at $100 with product details marked as to be determined.
The leak arrives during a sudden strategic shift under new gaming CEO Asha Sharma. While the Walmart page hinted at a cross-platform release, gaming insider Jeff Grubb reported the cancellation of the PS5 port following a last-minute internal decision by Xbox leadership. Microsoft plans to hold a dedicated hour-long presentation for the game during today’s showcase.
Reversing the Multiplatform Push
The cancellation stops Microsoft’s recent push to bring flagship titles to rival hardware. The company previously released Gears of War: Reloaded and Halo: Campaign Evolved on Sony consoles. That move generated intense backlash from Xbox loyalists. The E-Day PS5 port was actively in development before executives pulled the plug to keep the upcoming prequel exclusive to the Xbox ecosystem and PC.
During a recent Bloomberg interview, Sharma addressed the shift in publishing tactics. “In order to become a platform, you must have exclusive content and services,” Sharma said. “And so we’re looking at that very closely.” Microsoft is expected to clarify the exact platform availability and launch window for E-Day during the impending broadcast.
How Asha Sharma’s Platform Exclusivity Directive Impacts Sony
The sudden removal of the E-Day port directly aligns with Sharma’s new mandate that Xbox must retain exclusive content to survive as a hardware manufacturer. Sony’s PlayStation 5 platform now loses out on a day-one software release.
This marks the first major reversal in Microsoft’s multiplatform push since the Gears of War franchise made its PlayStation debut last year. By confining the highly anticipated prequel solely to Xbox and PC, Microsoft pauses the aggressive third-party publishing strategy established by the previous administration.