Since its launch six weeks ago, Gears of War has sold 2 million copies making it the fastest-selling next generation game to date. Microsoft states in its press release that Gears of War has now been crowned the must-have game of this year.
Michael Capps from Epic Games was also pleased, saying that this came as a pleasant surprise to them all as they didn´t expect such a positive response from players and critics alike. Gears is the most played game on Xbox Live and on top of that it has helped Microsoft to lure in new members to the network: number of paid registrations has risen more than 50%.
Earlier this month Sandvine Inc. have announced a spike in Xbox Live traffic. Following the release of Gears of War and five other Xbox games, an 80% increase in Xbox Live users was observed in North America.