The Coalition has confirmed that a sequel to Gears of War: E-Day is already in development, with studio head Mike Crump promising the next instalment will arrive much sooner than the seven-year gap between Gears 5 and E-Day.
In a BBC interview, Crump described E-Day as a ‘great foundation’ for future games and said the next Gears title ‘will not take nearly as long.’ The game, which launched two days ago, is set 14 years before the first Gears of War and does not end on a particularly final note, suggesting the series will continue as a prequel run.
Development timeline and staff concerns
E-Day is the first new Gears game since 2019’s Gears 5, not counting the 2020 tactics spin-off or last year’s enhanced re-release of the first game. Taken at face value, Crump’s promise means the sequel should take less than seven years to develop.
The announcement comes amid ongoing Xbox layoffs. Microsoft cut 268 employees last month, with more than 1,000 more expected to go by next July. Among those already laid off was Gears of War story director Juan Vaca, who was let go just five days after E-Day went gold.
Flagship status and performance metrics
Staff at The Coalition have expressed nervousness about potential cuts despite the studio’s status as a ‘flagship first party studio.’ Aside from Vaca, the studio appears to have been untouched by Microsoft’s recent restructuring, with no signs of the development troubles seen at Halo Studios.
Crump declined to share Microsoft’s exact targets for E-Day but indicated that sales numbers are not the only factor in measuring the game’s performance. ‘We measure things like, are we showcasing the platform? Are we pushing the hardware to its limits? Are we showcasing what the Xbox is capable of? Our goal basically is to be the best-looking game on the Xbox and really show the industry what’s possible with our hardware,’ said Crump, adding that driving up Game Pass subscriptions is also important.
Broader Xbox restructuring
Even if The Coalition avoids the worst of the cuts, Microsoft has already divested itself of several studios and merged others. Halo Studios is a shadow of its former self now that Activision has taken the Halo IP, and Obsidian Entertainment is at risk of being completely absorbed into Bethesda.
