What was reported
iXBT.games, citing Circana data shared by analyst Mat Piscatella, reports that E-Day ranked third among Xbox games in North America. It says only Fortnite and Roblox placed higher, and that E-Day beat NBA 2K27, Minecraft and Call of Duty.
Italy's Multiplayer.it adds the time window. Its report says the ranking covers the week ending October 11, which includes the launch days. It also notes that Circana's figures are partial because they come from a sample of users.
Engagement is not sales
This is a ranking of play activity, not a sales chart. Both iXBT and Multiplayer.it stress this. Multiplayer.it points out that the figure also counts people playing through Game Pass.
According to the Xbox product page, E-Day is available with Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass, and Xbox Play Anywhere supports play across Xbox Series X|S and PC with shared progression. A subscriber can start playing without a separate purchase, so a strong engagement rank doesn't show how many copies sold.
None of the reports I reviewed give player counts, a sample size or a full ranking method. They also don't say how much Game Pass contributed. "Possibly boosted by Game Pass" is a fair caveat. "Game Pass caused it" would be an overreach.
A separate earlier data point
Piscatella posted a narrower snapshot on Bluesky. According to Circana's Player Engagement Tracker, E-Day ranked 4th in Xbox global players on October 6th, behind only Fortnite, Roblox and NBA 2K27. He added that the average Xbox player ran the game for over 200 minutes on that day.
This doesn't contradict the third-place result, because the two measure different things:
| Measure | Scope | Period | E-Day rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Piscatella's Bluesky post | Global Xbox players | October 6 only | 4th |
| iXBT / Multiplayer.it reports | North America, Xbox | Week ending October 11 | 3rd |
The 200-minute figure is a single-day average for Xbox players. It shouldn't be read as a weekly figure or as applying to all platforms.
German outlet Xboxdynasty reached the same cautious reading of the October 6 post. The figures don't include concrete sales numbers or an absolute count of active players.
The wider sales debate
Engagement figures are circulating alongside a separate argument about sales. GameSpot reports that Piscatella reminded people that E-Day's revenue wasn't wholly cannibalized by its Game Pass inclusion, since a person had to pay for Game Pass in the first place. Third-party sales estimates, such as the Alinea figure cited by GamingBolt, rest on different and often undisclosed methods. They shouldn't be merged with Circana's engagement ranking.
Other titles mentioned
iXBT and Multiplayer.it both report the following. I haven't checked these against Circana's underlying chart.
- Star Wars: Galactic Racer: It reportedly placed 15th on Steam and outside the top 100 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, despite positive critical reception.
- ARC Raiders: It reportedly climbed back up the charts after the free Frozen Trail update. Multiplayer.it calls this Update 2.0. Neither report gives a placement or player-count change.
Takeaways for Xbox and PC players
- Scope: E-Day's third place covers North America, Xbox and the week ending October 11.
- Platform reach: It says nothing about PC or PlayStation engagement.
- The live-service wall: Multiplayer.it, relaying Piscatella, notes that console engagement is dominated by big live-service games. A new single-player-led release placing third there is notable, but that is commentary, not a measured outcome.
- The open question: Whether this engagement turns into long-term retention or revenue isn't answered by the available data.