Halo: Campaign Evolved is topping PS5 pre-order charts worldwide after Gears of War: E-Day went Xbox exclusive

Halo: Campaign Evolved is already dominating PS5 pre-order charts in multiple countries, and that momentum is only getting more interesting now that Gears of War: E-Day has confirmed it's skipping PlayStation entirely.

In the UK, the standard edition of Halo: Campaign Evolved is currently the top pre-order on the PlayStation Store, with the premium package sitting in the top five. France tells a similar story — the pricier edition leads the digital charts there. In Germany, the standard edition takes the top spot. The US is a bit more modest, with the premium edition holding seventh place at time of writing. Exact sales figures aren't available, but the geographic spread makes the trend hard to ignore.

Halo: Campaign Evolved is an Unreal Engine 5-powered remake of the original game, and its PS5 release marks the first time the franchise has ever landed on a Sony platform. It's not the first Xbox IP to find a warm welcome there — Forza Horizon 5 cleared five million PS5 sales, and Sea of Thieves proved the appetite is real. What makes this stranger is that Halo's marketing campaign appears to be leaning into PS5 more than Xbox, despite Master Chief being the single most Xbox-coded character in gaming. Meanwhile, Gears of War: E-Day staying Xbox-exclusive only deepens the confusion around Microsoft's platform strategy.

Eurogamer's Dom Peppiatt went into the hands-on demo expecting to be disappointed and came out a convert: "It has reinvigorated the first game with all the best bits of the following six." If the pre-order charts are any indication, PlayStation owners are already sold.