Epic VP Mark Rein has told MCV that Gears’ phenomenal success on Xbox Live is unexpected – because the studio only spent a minority of development time working on the game’s multiplayer mode.

“Our main focus on Gears was building the single player game,” Rein told MCV. “But while Gears might not be the most feature-rich multiplayer game around, people are still playing it online in absolutely huge and unexpected numbers.”

“We're already preparing an update, which is somewhat of a housekeeping task to adjust a few things rather than any significant new functionality, and we're also working on finalising some downloadable content as well. These should be in peoples' hands in the next few weeks – but they're just the first of several things we have planned to keep the Gears fire burning.”

Gears became the biggest-selling next gen title last weekend after shifting two million copies worldwide. And it recently added the accolade of being the most popular Xbox Live title – knocking Halo 2 from its long-held perch.

More than one million unique online gamers have played Gears online, in more than 10 million gameplay sessions. Global registrations of Microsoft’s network have rocketed by over 50 per cent since the game’s release.