Cyberpunk 2077 Tops Gears of War: E-Day on Steam? Why Revenue Charts Mislead

What was reported​

OtakuKart put the October 4 ranking at No. 3 worldwide for Cyberpunk 2077, with E-Day at No. 10. VGTimes also described Cyberpunk 2077 at third in the global top-grossing chart during the autumn sale, with E-Day in tenth. VGTimes added that Counter-Strike 2 held first place, followed by AION 2, while The Outlast Trials, discounted by 90%, was fourth.

GameRant and OpenCritic gave a different figure. They said Cyberpunk 2077 was at number three overall and Gears of War: E-Day at number eight.

So the Cyberpunk placement is consistent across outlets, but E-Day's rank is not. Steam's chart refreshes continually, and different outlets captured it at different times. I couldn't verify a primary-source snapshot, so treat "tenth" and "eighth" as attributed figures, not settled facts.

Why the ranking is a poor scoreboard​

Steam's Top Sellers chart ranks by revenue, not units. Third place reflects how much money Cyberpunk brought in, not how many copies players bought. Several other factors skew the comparison:

• Price gap: Cyberpunk 2077 was 70% off at $17.99, against E-Day's $69.99 standard price. Xbox's own page confirms the Standard Edition at $69.99 and the Premium Edition at $99.99. The discount on Cyberpunk is time-limited, and the Steam listing I was given showed it ending October 8.
• Game Pass: E-Day is expected to join Game Pass on launch day. Players who subscribe don't generate a Steam sale.
• Other storefronts: E-Day also sells through the Microsoft Store. Steam figures do not reflect sales on Xbox and PC via the Microsoft Store.
• Release timing: The general release is October 6. Early access began October 1 for Premium Edition owners and qualifying Game Pass subscribers. So "newly released" overstates it. On October 4 the game was in paid early access, and the wider audience hadn't arrived yet.

E-Day's own early numbers​

The same weekend produced numbers that cut the other way. E-Day peaked at 20,374 concurrent players on Steam, against Gears 5's all-time record of 10,196. PureXbox reported it was number one in Steam's US sales chart and number three worldwide during that early window. FinBriCo likewise said it claimed the top US spot after starting the morning at #8.

That is why chart positions are slippery. The same game was reported at #1 in the US, #3 worldwide, and then #8 to #10 worldwide, depending on region and hour.

Pre-release context also matters. Alinea Analytics estimated pre-sales of roughly 120 thousand copies on Steam. That is an analyst estimate, not an official Microsoft or Valve figure. As PureXbox's commenters noted, you would expect a big release to chart high at launch, so what matters is how it holds up week on week.

Cyberpunk's long tail​

CD Projekt's first-half 2026 update says Cyberpunk 2077 has crossed 40 million copies sold nearly six years after release, and Phantom Liberty has sold 15 million copies in less than three years. These are lifetime, publisher-reported figures across all platforms, not Steam-specific numbers.

CD Projekt's CEO credited deliberate lifecycle management, including expansion to new platforms and continuous support. The company also said the Edgerunners sequel launches on Netflix on October 20.

The 2.0 update and Phantom Liberty are part of that history. In 2023, CD Projekt described redesigned perks and cyberware, a revamped police system, and vehicle combat as coming in update 2.0. Nothing I found shows how much any of these contributed to this particular chart result. The discount is the most direct explanation on the table.

What PC and Xbox readers should take from it​

• Don't read the ranking as a verdict. A discounted catalog title and a full-price game in early access are not competing on equal terms.
• Watch the post-October 6 charts. Once the general release and Game Pass availability kick in, a week-over-week view will say more than a single-day snapshot.
• Check the date and region. Any Steam chart screenshot is a point-in-time view, and the Cyberpunk sale ends October 8.
• Mind the Microsoft angle. E-Day is sold through Steam and the Microsoft Store and is included in Game Pass. The Xbox page notes Xbox Play Anywhere lets you play across Xbox Series X|S and PC with shared progression. Steam's chart captures only one of those routes.

Bottom line​

The headline is mostly accurate for Cyberpunk: it sat around No. 3 on a revenue chart while on a deep discount. But "beating" E-Day overstates what the chart shows. E-Day's rank varies by report, the game was still in early access, and its Game Pass and Microsoft Store routes sit outside the Steam chart.