Following the recent release of Gears of War: E-Day, studio head of The Coalition, Mike Crump, has spoken about the franchise returning to its roots as an Xbox exclusive. While all previous titles in the series have typically stuck to Xbox consoles, with some of the more recent entries also making their way to PC, Gears of War: E-Day was originally slated to also come to PS5 before the decision was ultimately reversed.
In an interview with the BBC, Crump said that Gears of War: E-Day is a “natural choice to be an exclusive” for Xbox. “Gears has always been an exclusive franchise to Xbox for 20 years now. It’s sort of entwined deeply with the brand. And we’re proud of that.” Crump went on to say that Gears “carries the banner” for Xbox, giving console owners a “reason to be in the Xbox ecosystem.”
On the subject of how this exclusivity will end up affecting the sales of Gears of War: E-Day, Crump confirmed that The Coalition has its internal sales targets it wants to hit. Despite this, however, the studio is also taking a “broader view” when it comes to the impact the game might end up having. This includes things like being able to showcase the power of the Xbox Series X/S.
“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.”
When it comes to the impact of Xbox’s recent reset on The Coalition, Crump spoke about how the team is instead focusing on “the things that we can control”. This includes “shipping a great game that people are going to love and I feel like, as a team, we’ve done that.”
In the same interview, Crump had also spoken about how the studio plans to follow up on Gears of War: E-Day. Calling the title a “great foundation for the studio,” he even claimed that “the next game will not take nearly as long.” It is worth keeping in mind that the last mainline entry in the Gears of War franchise was 2019’s Gears 5. In the meantime, The Coalition has worked on the Hivebusters expansion for the title, as well as a remake of the original Gears of War, dubbed Gears of War: Reloaded, which is the only title in the series to have also come to PS5.
Gears of War: E-Day is currently available on PC and Xbox Series X/S. The title was released earlier this week, and in our review, we gave it a score of 9 out of 10 thanks to its strong cast of core characters, excellently paced campaign, and fun gameplay mechanics that made it feel like the most dynamic title in the franchise. Our only complaints were inconsistent storytelling, Dom feeling underused, and repetitive and one-note side content.
For more on its multiplayer game modes, check out our final impressions of its various offerings like Horde Siege mode and Versus.
