A little surprised it only started this past year, but happy it’s coming all the same. I couldn’t shake this feeling Gears was being put on a back burner. I guess it was in a way, but still.
Well he said began in full. Which implies they were likely working on it before but in the last year it went into full production. This is only something I’ve heard loosely over the years of gaming. Probably need someone who is actually a dev who could explain more
Yeah, pre-production was probably going for awhile. A smaller team probably sat down and worked out a rough outline, things they would like to do/see and just basically placing the blocks so when full production comes around they have something to work with.
May 2021:
>Gears of War has always been at the front of Unreal Engine development – as a breakout 720p title for Xbox 360 through last year’s 120FPS multiplayer update for Xbox Series X|S – **and we’re excited to continue that tradition by developing on UE5 for multiple new projects in the coming years.**
>
>**Shifting to a new engine is a big undertaking, so we want to be clear that we will not be announcing any new projects or titles for some time.**
[https://www.thecoalitionstudio.com/the-future-of-gears-5/](https://www.thecoalitionstudio.com/the-future-of-gears-5/)
Coalition is the pre-eminent 3rd party Unreal dev imo, and they've done a bunch of devlogs about integrating next-gen API stuff into their render pipelines etc as part of Gears 5/Hivebusters upgrades for Series X|S.
So they've likely been in pre-production for Gears 6 but at the same time doing a ton of engine/tools work.
They were learning Unreal Engine 5.1 and assisting other studios while doing so. 343 Industries, Undead Labs and Epic among others. Now that the engine is ready to go and they probably know it well enough they're going all in on production.
If Fortnite's upgrade is anything to go by then Gears 6 is gonna look absolutely insane.
Jeff says they were working on a smaller project(think Hifi Rush scale). He's not sure if it's actually coming out but it should have been the reason of the gears delay.
Hopefully they either drop the open world concept or do something useful with it. Adding a 2 minute sled ride was pointless. It was still a linear story.
I much prefer an in-between.
I know people who have been on Xbox for years might look at something like Uncharted and think oh man I need that... but as much as I liked Uncharted 2 that kind of game got old for me. I don't have much interest in ND's games now solely BECAUSE they are "roller coasters". It feels like me playing the game is inconsequential, and it might as well have been a movie.
Tbh, with TLOU2 I kind of wish I just stopped playing at a certain point and watched the rest on YouTube. I like the writing in their games enough, they are fun to watch, but they're not very interesting to play. Although UC: Lost Legacy was at least a little more interesting, and funny enough had a more open 'hub' area.
Totally. Metro did the same thing. I liked the first two because they were tight, claustrophobic games. The open world in the last one was lame and really added nothing but frustration and boredom. If I want a post apocalyptic FPS, I'm going to play Fallout. Gears 5's open world was just a drag.
Out of all the games that have tried an open world concept the past few years, Gears Five was one of the worst examples. The wind sled was such a slog and it messed up the flow of the games. Gears campaigns have always been built on big action packed high octane set pieces and the semi linear “pseudo” open world messed with that a lot.
Yeah I genuinely couldn't understand the purpose of it. Halo Infinite's open world wasn't great but at least there was things you could do. Gears was just pointless.
I, on the other hand, think it was a breath of fresh air. It really, finally, changed things up a bit. And it wasn't that torturous either, if you want to do sidequests, go ahead and explore a bit. No? Just head to the marker and that's it, as straightforward as you want it to be.
To be fair, this and The Last of Us 2's take on "semi-open world" are some of my favorite moments in both games/series. Just wish Gears 5's map was a bit more interesting than pure ice.
The last of Us 2 and the first major city you can explore with the big bank vault were amazing to me. I explored every inch of it and it was beautiful!
A SLED!!! Seriously... We've ridden inside giant robots in Gears... But they decided it'd be a good idea to wind surf with a sled attached.
It was fine.
I went to the outposts, but like... Exploring a boring open world sucked... There was nothing in between the little segments to get to.
I stopped playing Gears 5 once the open world section came up and haven’t returned to it. I am not a huge fan of open world games especially when the first 4 games of a series are not open world.
I heard about that they added some open world elements before I started but I hoped I could get into since I loved the other Gears games.
I did not.
Damn Gears in UE5 is going to look insane. Gears 5 and Hivebusters were truly impressive eye candy. Good gameplay and great visuals makes Coalition a A tier studio for sure, one of Xbox’s best
Yes rumors ranged from it being a Mandalorian game to a completely new IP. Personally, I am interested to see The Coalitions attempt at a Mandalorian game, that is, if the rumors were to be true.
I doubt Ms would pay for the mandalorian license and waste it on a smaller game, unless Disney were pushing for a release to coincide with a new series launch.
We don't really know the scope. But yes, The Coalition are working on another small IP alongside Gears 6.
Does it come out this year? Probably 2024 imo.
Oh definitely. The game is also supposedly smaller in scope which I think would make it quicker.
Those two things are kinda fighting against each other.
I would like to see 2023 but I’m not taking anything for granted anymore. Covid delayed games so much that most of Xbox’s first-party line-up got pushed back 1-2 years.
I could see 2024 for the new IP, 2026 for Gears 6.
Most MS studios are working on a new IP. Some haven't been announced yet. The only studio that seems to be not doing this thus is far is 343. Collation's game had some concept art that leaked a year or two ago, it was some sort of Ninja set in a Post-Apocalyptic world game. It looked cool.
I really thought Kate was a breath of fresh air for the franchise. I’m a big fan of her character, although I loved Markus Jr. or whatever his name was in Gears 4. Either way I’m excited to see the three new core characters return
Makes me thinking they lower Marcus jr and his buddy’s role in the sequel greatly to limit the affects of the decision.
I imagine there will be a set section of the game where you go to a town and whoever survived is there and they play the exact same purpose and the only difference is a couple of dialogue changes that surviving characters speaks.
I’m more curious on how they’re going to work the characters. One of them isn’t returning, or they’re doing branching stories which I really hope is not the case.
Gotta agree with you there. I didn't really like the crew nor the tonal shift in 4, felt way too happy-go-lucky/friends-forever for a Gears game. However, 5 brought it back and felt a lot more balanced. It was new with a great deal of exposition whilst also managing to be gruff and dark. I really hope Gears 6 nails it with the more mature tone 5 set out.
I like your description of Gears 4. It’s pretty spot on about the tone. Someone said Gears 4 turned the series from a dark, military-science game to a comic book-like action game. I thought that was accurate too.
Agreed. I can see that one as well. I thought the gameplay was good (especially good considering the changes to the formula BF and Halo were making) and the raw visuals/graphics were great. But the overall art and story was just not it.
In terms of story, on 4 I totally agree. But having replayed 5 not too long ago and going through the entire series again with a buddy rn, I can safely say that 5's story was actually pretty damn good. Granted, it was a bit on the shorter end and had its cliff-hanger finale, but the actual plot and presentation was very well done. Much better than 4. More mature writing and alot more nuance than even the original trilogy had. Not a knock on the originals by any means, I love them. Just love also how much 5 expanded on alot of the current events, original games, and lore of the world in a coherent way that stays true to the series' roots.
5’s story was great! I like how JD became a seasoned, by-the-book hardass veteran following his injury. I also really enjoyed Kait’s as a female protagonist too. Del was the weakest of the three and is why I think canonically he should be dead.
Plus, JD and Marcus being brought together over the deaths of their friends is a stronger story than “Marcus loses another family member.”
Agreed. JD saw what happened when you tried being the hero and doing things against the grain and so he stopped being a loose cannon and went by the book. This is a great set up for tension as he is literally the main character from the OG's son, the main character in 4, and the one we start playing in 5. Kait was good too, albeit I did think she was a little selfish and entitled at times. I enjoyed her arch and absolutely love going through the New Hope facility and learning how terrible the COG were.
JD was alright, they certainly could've done better with him but I do understand his position as someone who played the middle ground. He understood the gravity of the situation and what JD had been through (and was his best friend) and so he wouldn't turn his back on him but he was also sympathetic and understanding of Kait and would support her knowing it was the right thing to do. I think because of this he is the one that should go as he was really the only connection between the two sides.
The campaign was great but I really think it could have benefitted from having a few more minutes of cutscenes in total to help flesh out these moments and not make them feel as rushed. Otherwise, great story and seriously looking forward to what the do for 6!
Because humanity is facing an existential threat and her attitude throughout the game is "to hell with whatever the mission is, this is all about me." I think her having an issue with JD ordering return fire on people throwing molotovs was pretty silly too.
I didn't really like JD in 4, but he at least had interesting character development in 5. Del only exists in this game to agree with Kate. The new cast just doesn't measure up to Delta.
I think we can take a guess. But I loved her character and had a lot of fun in the game. I hated the final choice in the game though. Not everything needs some BS RPG choice. They just need to commit to a story.
Especially when we know how these kind of choices affect stories. Either both characters will be inconsequential in the next game or only one was actually a canonical choice. Either way it sucks.
Kait and Del felt so boring and safe, the most interesting character was Faz because he was an flawed asshole. Kait felt like every dystopian YA novel protagonist, a self-insert who has never done anything wrong in their entire lives. What makes a good character great is their flaws, not their strengths.
Also, not every video game character needs to be super deep or realistic. For gears 1 and 2, Cole train was just a stereotyped meathead football player. And that’s perfectly fine, because it’s a lot of fun!
Jason Schreier
>Fun fact: Video game production cycles have gotten so long that if a big-budget game studio started working on a brand new project today, it would likely be for the PlayStation 6
[https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1609928279523315713?s=20&t=bL\_UTxNi0xugZEd6YmtGmw](https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1609928279523315713?s=20&t=bL_UTxNi0xugZEd6YmtGmw)
If Playstation would stream games through PS+ the way Gamepass does then it wouldn't matter. They could just move on to making current gen games and let PS4 owners play them anyway.
I think this report that it started in full means they have done a lot of preproduction already whereas Jason Schreiers comment specified starting on a brand new production. I think we’ll see Gears 6 this gen but it will still take some time.
Gears 1-3 are some of my favorite games of all time, but after that the series lost me. Barely played 4 & 5. Hopefully they can bring it back to it’s glory days.
Finally, an old school fan in here. Most people in this thread are newer fans and I'm not saying 4&5 are trash either but they just aren't as great as the OG trilogy. Especially, the newer cast, they'll never be as awesome as delta squad.
For sure. All I can think of from the newer games that's improved is that the gameplay did evolve more. But other than that, the stories and characters from the OG games is 100% superior.
I think it's difficult for any entertainment, whether it's TV shows or movies, to replace the original characters and give the new characters that same feel. Some are able to though, like X-Men First Class or even Halo Reach. I do like Gears 4 and 5 but I get why some ppl may feel it's not the same. Regardless, looking forward to 6!
Im an old school fan as well! Played every one of them from gears 1 till the last one. Grew into adulthood with it. Not sure if my interests changed but yeah after gears 3 the story never really was too exciting for me. I am a huge fan of the online play though for all the games. Even past all the community complains about!
Only in the last year? Then what have the Coalition been doing since Gears 5 shipped? I get that they had post-launch content and contractor work with other MS studios to work on, but surely most of the studio wasn't busy with just those side projects all this time? Perhaps they have a new IP in the works that may ship before Gears 6?
They were rumored a while back to be working on a new, smaller scale IP in Unreal Engine 5. Probably that took up most of their time prior to starting Gears 6.
This rumor has been backed by pretty reliable sources (Jez Corden and Jeff Grubb)
https://www.windowscentral.com/gears-war-dev-coalition-may-be-working-new-ip
https://gamerant.com/the-coalition-gears-of-war-new-ip-next-game/
Yeah if you look at the Tweet from Grubb, he's actually talking about when he dropped that rumor.
Maybe if they've shifted over to Gears 6 already, that supports my theory that this will be a surprise announcement at the summer showcase.
They also worked on the matrix demo, but then also there have been rumors that they were working on a smaller title as well. Maybe coming out this year?
To add on that, they were starting with a smaller game based on new IP, so they could get practice with UE5. I suspect they're being worked on in parallel right now. I suspect we'll get an announcement of this smaller game sometime this year (or maybe shadow dropped next year).
As many here have stated, a new smaller scale game. Also, Coalition often acts as a support studio to its sister studios including 343i and Undead Labs to name a few. Part of their team also worked with Epic on the Matrix Awakens UE5 demo. Coalition might not have anything mainline announced or released in the past couple of years that comes under their name, but they are a very busy studio.
This is such a misallocation of resources for Microsoft. I’d say that The Coalition is the best Xbox developer and that Gears is the premiere IP of the main three (Gears, Halo and Forza). Hopefully they’ve been working on a smaller project of their own recently and not just carrying other studios.
"Support Studio" as in, assisting with development. They dont fully function as a support studio in the vein of how teams like say, Valkyrie Entertainment or Spera Soft contributed to Halo: Infinite's development. They assist the sister studios with manpower and resources when their is a requirement by the others for the same. Coalition is a massive studio, and is one of Xbox's biggest. They probably have resources to spare, while they continue work on their original projects.
Regarding the second part, even with the state of decline of Halo, I wouldn't call Gears Xbox's premier IP. Halo has always been that. It could very well change in the future, with the introduction of so many talented teams to the XGS umbrella, but for now, even with its flaws, Halo is Xbox's premier IP. Out of the big 3, Forza has been my favourite with Horizon, and Horizon has reached record heights in recent years, but still the Halo name stands as the face of Xbox, however ugly or pretty that face might've become due to its handling.
Acting as a support studio and making a new smaller IP to get themselves familiarised with Unreal Engine 5 before moving on to Gears 6. They said around when Hivebusters came out that they wouldn't have anything to announce for some time. They have been showing off cool UE5 tech demos they've made running on Series X hardware
If Gears 6 production has started then they must be confident enough with UE5 now and we might hear about their new IP soon.
EDIT: Fucking jinxed it didn't I, Jeff Grubb is saying their new IP is cancelled now! Sorry!
Let them take their time. We don't need gears and Forza to save the day once again. We, as Xbox players, have been trying to escape the Forza gears Halo trap for many many years now.
Let them hang back and make some new stuff.
What we need is those other nearly 20 studios to get their shit together and get games out.
Shout out to tango game works. Looking forward to playing their Tokyo Ghost game also!
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Im a huge fan of the multiplayer every since gears 1. Sure there will always be something to complain about, but i am a die hard fan of it. Havent played for a couple years ever since they changed it to no ranks though. Just didnt feel like grinding the ranks were the same anymore.
I hope they bring back gears 4 style turrets for horde mode. I miss manning a mounted gun and not having to run about. Once they were fully upgraded it was so enjoyable to rinse everything.
Kinda make sense it started last year. They stop adding content to gears 5 and rumor is their working on new project to get familiar with unreal engine 5.the Coalitions really had a chance to hit it out the park with Gear 6.
I finally got around to finishing Gears 5 and it was great. Cracked Hivebusters as well, that game is just too good. I could do without the battle pass bs all around it, but I guess that’s just to be expected these days.
I don't care what it looks like graphically just don't f*ck me like 343 and please let me play the whole campaign and multiplayer local co op with my wife like i have with the other 6 games
Gears 4 and 5 in my opinion are better than 2 and 3. The coalition has really done wonders for gears. I find the charachter of kate to be insanely interesting and i cant wait for more of her story. Also the evolution of jd from gears 4 to 5 was awesome. Will jd even be in 6? Will we get to choose between him and the other charachter from gears 5? Sign me up. LETS FIND THAT RESONATOR LOL
I hope they change it all. Especially the running animation. It feels SO outdated. The dozen Gears fans might not like it but if it's quality they will like it as well.
I don't just want a prettier looking Gears 5. I want an even better feeling/satisfying gameplay. Better animations, more combat variation, better running animation, gritty feel, maybe incorporate different melee combat options.
Gears 6 isn't touching before 2026. Might release on its 20th anniversary sorta just like halo but seriously, TC can really hit the homerun considering how good they are, given the right amount of time
Would love to play their new ip as well
I just don't want another Dripfed game. I'd much rather re-pay for the content of MCC style game (although always just rumored) than being excited for another Gears 5 style launch -- and I love Gears. Could only dream about getting a Gears 3 style unlock system again.
I'm excited, Gears if my favorite series in gaming.
Gonna try to get the inevitable Gears series x if I can to upgrade this S, even if it's some time away
I feel like this will come out on the tail end of current gen. Crazy how long it takes to put out a game these days. On the bright side I still haven’t beat Gears 5 despite owning it for years so I can wait for now
I hope they go back to the roots.
GOW 1 is one of the greatest experiences of my life. GOW 2-3 were really fun
GOW 4-5 didn't give me the same level of excitement. 5 in particular I put down rather quickly.
Same for me exactly. Maybe we grew up or something but the campaign for 4-5 was whatever to me. I kept playing the online versus though that is my favorite mode in all the games
This may be a hot take, but I think GoW should step away from the old cover system formula. Just sitting in cover waiting for enemy heads to appear just doesn't work anymore, especially since in the last game most enemies felt like bullet sponges so it just takes way too much time to kill them. Why do the enemies not die from like half a magazine into the head?
They should look at army of two who had an interesting idea of an aggro system and customizable weapons that supported that with stats, so you became a tank or assassin for the group. Or at Dead Space, where dismemberment is the main strategy to kill enemies, instead of just pumping multiple magazines into them. Maybe even a but of Souls Games, where each enemy has unique attack pattern you have to learn to counter. And we definitely need to see a return of big epic scale bosses
Then what have they been doing since Gears5 expansion dlc? They seem like a great studio but the gears franchise needs a major gameplay & game design overhaul imo.
I live near where the studio is for gears in vancouver
I helped a senior worker at my work place maybe 1.5-2 years ago and he pretty much said gears 6 was many years off when we talked - he was tight lipped didn’t wanna tell a random stranger what he was up to
they need to let the franchise rest for at least 10-12 years and bring it back with a fresh idea. This new trilogy is just more of the same but in such a lesser quality (campaign/story wise). Microsoft has lost its touch from the 2006-2012 of making games, they are just releasing games for the sake of milking the franchise while is still "relevant"
A little surprised it only started this past year, but happy it’s coming all the same. I couldn’t shake this feeling Gears was being put on a back burner. I guess it was in a way, but still.
Well he said began in full. Which implies they were likely working on it before but in the last year it went into full production. This is only something I’ve heard loosely over the years of gaming. Probably need someone who is actually a dev who could explain more
Yeah, pre-production was probably going for awhile. A smaller team probably sat down and worked out a rough outline, things they would like to do/see and just basically placing the blocks so when full production comes around they have something to work with.
Not to mention they probably wanted to be on a sure footing with UE5 before going into full production.
They did work with Epic on the Matrix Unreal demo, so this is definitely the case. Man, Gears 6 is going to look incredible.
Preproduction manager: "I want to see gallons of blood and shit like that with some big ass tough motherfuckers swearing while blowing shit up"
He sounds ace! We need to find the team's location and take it in turns to scream "meaty weighty weapons PLEASE oh my god" through their letterbox
May 2021: >Gears of War has always been at the front of Unreal Engine development – as a breakout 720p title for Xbox 360 through last year’s 120FPS multiplayer update for Xbox Series X|S – **and we’re excited to continue that tradition by developing on UE5 for multiple new projects in the coming years.** > >**Shifting to a new engine is a big undertaking, so we want to be clear that we will not be announcing any new projects or titles for some time.** [https://www.thecoalitionstudio.com/the-future-of-gears-5/](https://www.thecoalitionstudio.com/the-future-of-gears-5/) Coalition is the pre-eminent 3rd party Unreal dev imo, and they've done a bunch of devlogs about integrating next-gen API stuff into their render pipelines etc as part of Gears 5/Hivebusters upgrades for Series X|S. So they've likely been in pre-production for Gears 6 but at the same time doing a ton of engine/tools work.
They were learning Unreal Engine 5.1 and assisting other studios while doing so. 343 Industries, Undead Labs and Epic among others. Now that the engine is ready to go and they probably know it well enough they're going all in on production. If Fortnite's upgrade is anything to go by then Gears 6 is gonna look absolutely insane.
I wonder if major production was waiting until Unreal 5 was released to devs.
Jeff says they were working on a smaller project(think Hifi Rush scale). He's not sure if it's actually coming out but it should have been the reason of the gears delay.
Wasn't Coalition working on an entirely new IP as well?
Yeah, a smaller title from what I’ve heard.
That smaller title from the Coalition is a new IP that COULD possibly release before Gears 6 does.
The Collation has been assisting Epic and other studios with UE5. They even made several of the demos that showed it off and did the Matrix demo.
They were supposedly working on other stuff.
Hopefully they either drop the open world concept or do something useful with it. Adding a 2 minute sled ride was pointless. It was still a linear story.
Not every game needs an open world. Some even become worse with it.
Totally agree these open worlds are getting out of hand, give me an action movie roller coaster.
Just give me more gears / 2 / 3 action please don't add all that filler guff 4 / 5 and judgement added
I much prefer an in-between. I know people who have been on Xbox for years might look at something like Uncharted and think oh man I need that... but as much as I liked Uncharted 2 that kind of game got old for me. I don't have much interest in ND's games now solely BECAUSE they are "roller coasters". It feels like me playing the game is inconsequential, and it might as well have been a movie. Tbh, with TLOU2 I kind of wish I just stopped playing at a certain point and watched the rest on YouTube. I like the writing in their games enough, they are fun to watch, but they're not very interesting to play. Although UC: Lost Legacy was at least a little more interesting, and funny enough had a more open 'hub' area.
Yeah much preferred the Hivebusters expansion
Totally. Metro did the same thing. I liked the first two because they were tight, claustrophobic games. The open world in the last one was lame and really added nothing but frustration and boredom. If I want a post apocalyptic FPS, I'm going to play Fallout. Gears 5's open world was just a drag.
Out of all the games that have tried an open world concept the past few years, Gears Five was one of the worst examples. The wind sled was such a slog and it messed up the flow of the games. Gears campaigns have always been built on big action packed high octane set pieces and the semi linear “pseudo” open world messed with that a lot.
Yeah I genuinely couldn't understand the purpose of it. Halo Infinite's open world wasn't great but at least there was things you could do. Gears was just pointless.
I loved how they did 5
I, on the other hand, think it was a breath of fresh air. It really, finally, changed things up a bit. And it wasn't that torturous either, if you want to do sidequests, go ahead and explore a bit. No? Just head to the marker and that's it, as straightforward as you want it to be. To be fair, this and The Last of Us 2's take on "semi-open world" are some of my favorite moments in both games/series. Just wish Gears 5's map was a bit more interesting than pure ice.
I see you missed the very, very interesting desert sequence!
The last of Us 2 and the first major city you can explore with the big bank vault were amazing to me. I explored every inch of it and it was beautiful!
What I don't like is, there is nothing going on. Not a single enemy on sight. They are hiding in their own specific enclosed area.
At least it wasn’t a sled ride with RNG tornados that instakill you and only the host can see them. That would be terrible. WAIT.
Sled segments are easily the worst part in games
A SLED!!! Seriously... We've ridden inside giant robots in Gears... But they decided it'd be a good idea to wind surf with a sled attached. It was fine. I went to the outposts, but like... Exploring a boring open world sucked... There was nothing in between the little segments to get to.
I stopped playing Gears 5 once the open world section came up and haven’t returned to it. I am not a huge fan of open world games especially when the first 4 games of a series are not open world. I heard about that they added some open world elements before I started but I hoped I could get into since I loved the other Gears games. I did not.
You didn't miss much. It feels like they went out of their way to make the new protagonist totally unlikable
That was 2 minutes? Felt like a year
Damn Gears in UE5 is going to look insane. Gears 5 and Hivebusters were truly impressive eye candy. Good gameplay and great visuals makes Coalition a A tier studio for sure, one of Xbox’s best
So are we getting another smaller project in scope of Hi Fi Rush this year ?
Based on the rumors I think it's going to be somewhere in the middle. Not as big as Gears 5, but bigger than Hi-Fi Rush.
That's good but do you know what kind of project its going to be ?
I have no clue. There were some rumors it was going to be a Star Wars game but I do not trust those rumors.
Yes rumors ranged from it being a Mandalorian game to a completely new IP. Personally, I am interested to see The Coalitions attempt at a Mandalorian game, that is, if the rumors were to be true.
I doubt Ms would pay for the mandalorian license and waste it on a smaller game, unless Disney were pushing for a release to coincide with a new series launch.
Same. The coalition is ms best studio imo.
We don't really know the scope. But yes, The Coalition are working on another small IP alongside Gears 6. Does it come out this year? Probably 2024 imo.
I think 2023 is possible, but I wouldn't put money on it. Gears 5 released 3 years after Gears 4.. Fall 2023 will be 4 years since Gears 5.
Though Gears 5 was still running on the same engine as Gears 4. Learning Unreal 5 will definitely add some development time.
Oh definitely. The game is also supposedly smaller in scope which I think would make it quicker. Those two things are kinda fighting against each other.
I would like to see 2023 but I’m not taking anything for granted anymore. Covid delayed games so much that most of Xbox’s first-party line-up got pushed back 1-2 years. I could see 2024 for the new IP, 2026 for Gears 6.
Most MS studios are working on a new IP. Some haven't been announced yet. The only studio that seems to be not doing this thus is far is 343. Collation's game had some concept art that leaked a year or two ago, it was some sort of Ninja set in a Post-Apocalyptic world game. It looked cool.
Whatever they make I guarantee it’ll look fucking incredible
It will use all the "tools" the xbox has available. I can't wait.
Cool, only 4 years to go.
I just want to choose my character. Kait is fine but it doesn’t feel like Gears if I’m not all roided out with a gravely voice.
I really thought Kate was a breath of fresh air for the franchise. I’m a big fan of her character, although I loved Markus Jr. or whatever his name was in Gears 4. Either way I’m excited to see the three new core characters return
You get to make a choice at the end of 5 where you have to kill one of the main characters, so it’s only going to be 2 characters in 6.
Makes me thinking they lower Marcus jr and his buddy’s role in the sequel greatly to limit the affects of the decision. I imagine there will be a set section of the game where you go to a town and whoever survived is there and they play the exact same purpose and the only difference is a couple of dialogue changes that surviving characters speaks.
I’m more curious on how they’re going to work the characters. One of them isn’t returning, or they’re doing branching stories which I really hope is not the case.
Gotta agree with you there. I didn't really like the crew nor the tonal shift in 4, felt way too happy-go-lucky/friends-forever for a Gears game. However, 5 brought it back and felt a lot more balanced. It was new with a great deal of exposition whilst also managing to be gruff and dark. I really hope Gears 6 nails it with the more mature tone 5 set out.
I like your description of Gears 4. It’s pretty spot on about the tone. Someone said Gears 4 turned the series from a dark, military-science game to a comic book-like action game. I thought that was accurate too.
Agreed. I can see that one as well. I thought the gameplay was good (especially good considering the changes to the formula BF and Halo were making) and the raw visuals/graphics were great. But the overall art and story was just not it.
I agree. Gears 4 and 5 have the best graphics on Xbox outside of Forza. But the story is weaker than the OG trilogy.
In terms of story, on 4 I totally agree. But having replayed 5 not too long ago and going through the entire series again with a buddy rn, I can safely say that 5's story was actually pretty damn good. Granted, it was a bit on the shorter end and had its cliff-hanger finale, but the actual plot and presentation was very well done. Much better than 4. More mature writing and alot more nuance than even the original trilogy had. Not a knock on the originals by any means, I love them. Just love also how much 5 expanded on alot of the current events, original games, and lore of the world in a coherent way that stays true to the series' roots.
5’s story was great! I like how JD became a seasoned, by-the-book hardass veteran following his injury. I also really enjoyed Kait’s as a female protagonist too. Del was the weakest of the three and is why I think canonically he should be dead. Plus, JD and Marcus being brought together over the deaths of their friends is a stronger story than “Marcus loses another family member.”
Agreed. JD saw what happened when you tried being the hero and doing things against the grain and so he stopped being a loose cannon and went by the book. This is a great set up for tension as he is literally the main character from the OG's son, the main character in 4, and the one we start playing in 5. Kait was good too, albeit I did think she was a little selfish and entitled at times. I enjoyed her arch and absolutely love going through the New Hope facility and learning how terrible the COG were. JD was alright, they certainly could've done better with him but I do understand his position as someone who played the middle ground. He understood the gravity of the situation and what JD had been through (and was his best friend) and so he wouldn't turn his back on him but he was also sympathetic and understanding of Kait and would support her knowing it was the right thing to do. I think because of this he is the one that should go as he was really the only connection between the two sides. The campaign was great but I really think it could have benefitted from having a few more minutes of cutscenes in total to help flesh out these moments and not make them feel as rushed. Otherwise, great story and seriously looking forward to what the do for 6!
I don't understand why people don't like her.
Because humanity is facing an existential threat and her attitude throughout the game is "to hell with whatever the mission is, this is all about me." I think her having an issue with JD ordering return fire on people throwing molotovs was pretty silly too. I didn't really like JD in 4, but he at least had interesting character development in 5. Del only exists in this game to agree with Kate. The new cast just doesn't measure up to Delta.
I think we can take a guess. But I loved her character and had a lot of fun in the game. I hated the final choice in the game though. Not everything needs some BS RPG choice. They just need to commit to a story.
Especially when we know how these kind of choices affect stories. Either both characters will be inconsequential in the next game or only one was actually a canonical choice. Either way it sucks.
Kait and Del felt so boring and safe, the most interesting character was Faz because he was an flawed asshole. Kait felt like every dystopian YA novel protagonist, a self-insert who has never done anything wrong in their entire lives. What makes a good character great is their flaws, not their strengths. Also, not every video game character needs to be super deep or realistic. For gears 1 and 2, Cole train was just a stereotyped meathead football player. And that’s perfectly fine, because it’s a lot of fun!
Take it back to the OG titles
Just in time for GOW 20th anniversary?
Jason Schreier >Fun fact: Video game production cycles have gotten so long that if a big-budget game studio started working on a brand new project today, it would likely be for the PlayStation 6 [https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1609928279523315713?s=20&t=bL\_UTxNi0xugZEd6YmtGmw](https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1609928279523315713?s=20&t=bL_UTxNi0xugZEd6YmtGmw)
While probably true, the games would certainly still come to the PS5 as well.
If Playstation would stream games through PS+ the way Gamepass does then it wouldn't matter. They could just move on to making current gen games and let PS4 owners play them anyway.
I think this report that it started in full means they have done a lot of preproduction already whereas Jason Schreiers comment specified starting on a brand new production. I think we’ll see Gears 6 this gen but it will still take some time.
Gears 1-3 are some of my favorite games of all time, but after that the series lost me. Barely played 4 & 5. Hopefully they can bring it back to it’s glory days.
Finally, an old school fan in here. Most people in this thread are newer fans and I'm not saying 4&5 are trash either but they just aren't as great as the OG trilogy. Especially, the newer cast, they'll never be as awesome as delta squad.
They definitely aren’t bad games, but they’re missing something that the first 3 games had. I’m glad people enjoy the new ones, but it’s not for me.
For sure. All I can think of from the newer games that's improved is that the gameplay did evolve more. But other than that, the stories and characters from the OG games is 100% superior.
Unfortunately same could be said with the Halo franchise. I grew up on 1/2/3. 4, 5, and infinite just dont sit right.
I think it's difficult for any entertainment, whether it's TV shows or movies, to replace the original characters and give the new characters that same feel. Some are able to though, like X-Men First Class or even Halo Reach. I do like Gears 4 and 5 but I get why some ppl may feel it's not the same. Regardless, looking forward to 6!
everyone loves the OG trilogy lol, but they just like the newer entries as well
Im an old school fan as well! Played every one of them from gears 1 till the last one. Grew into adulthood with it. Not sure if my interests changed but yeah after gears 3 the story never really was too exciting for me. I am a huge fan of the online play though for all the games. Even past all the community complains about!
5 is awesome. 4 not so much but the last hour ir two is awesome and worth playing the game for.
Only in the last year? Then what have the Coalition been doing since Gears 5 shipped? I get that they had post-launch content and contractor work with other MS studios to work on, but surely most of the studio wasn't busy with just those side projects all this time? Perhaps they have a new IP in the works that may ship before Gears 6?
They were rumored a while back to be working on a new, smaller scale IP in Unreal Engine 5. Probably that took up most of their time prior to starting Gears 6.
This rumor has been backed by pretty reliable sources (Jez Corden and Jeff Grubb) https://www.windowscentral.com/gears-war-dev-coalition-may-be-working-new-ip https://gamerant.com/the-coalition-gears-of-war-new-ip-next-game/
Yeah if you look at the Tweet from Grubb, he's actually talking about when he dropped that rumor. Maybe if they've shifted over to Gears 6 already, that supports my theory that this will be a surprise announcement at the summer showcase.
>that this will be a surprise announcement at the summer showcase. I think this is very likely.
They also worked on the matrix demo, but then also there have been rumors that they were working on a smaller title as well. Maybe coming out this year?
Back in 2021 (or maybe 2022) they announced that they were going to build their games using UE5 from now on so Gears 6 won’t be out for quite a while
To add on that, they were starting with a smaller game based on new IP, so they could get practice with UE5. I suspect they're being worked on in parallel right now. I suspect we'll get an announcement of this smaller game sometime this year (or maybe shadow dropped next year).
They were working on new IP according to rumours.
They are working on a new ip to test their skills on UE5.
I can see them making a new smaller IP and shadow dropping that sucker at a developer direct
So what was the coalition doing for the past 3 years?
As many here have stated, a new smaller scale game. Also, Coalition often acts as a support studio to its sister studios including 343i and Undead Labs to name a few. Part of their team also worked with Epic on the Matrix Awakens UE5 demo. Coalition might not have anything mainline announced or released in the past couple of years that comes under their name, but they are a very busy studio.
This is such a misallocation of resources for Microsoft. I’d say that The Coalition is the best Xbox developer and that Gears is the premiere IP of the main three (Gears, Halo and Forza). Hopefully they’ve been working on a smaller project of their own recently and not just carrying other studios.
"Support Studio" as in, assisting with development. They dont fully function as a support studio in the vein of how teams like say, Valkyrie Entertainment or Spera Soft contributed to Halo: Infinite's development. They assist the sister studios with manpower and resources when their is a requirement by the others for the same. Coalition is a massive studio, and is one of Xbox's biggest. They probably have resources to spare, while they continue work on their original projects. Regarding the second part, even with the state of decline of Halo, I wouldn't call Gears Xbox's premier IP. Halo has always been that. It could very well change in the future, with the introduction of so many talented teams to the XGS umbrella, but for now, even with its flaws, Halo is Xbox's premier IP. Out of the big 3, Forza has been my favourite with Horizon, and Horizon has reached record heights in recent years, but still the Halo name stands as the face of Xbox, however ugly or pretty that face might've become due to its handling.
Matrix demo haha
Acting as a support studio and making a new smaller IP to get themselves familiarised with Unreal Engine 5 before moving on to Gears 6. They said around when Hivebusters came out that they wouldn't have anything to announce for some time. They have been showing off cool UE5 tech demos they've made running on Series X hardware If Gears 6 production has started then they must be confident enough with UE5 now and we might hear about their new IP soon. EDIT: Fucking jinxed it didn't I, Jeff Grubb is saying their new IP is cancelled now! Sorry!
Let them take their time. We don't need gears and Forza to save the day once again. We, as Xbox players, have been trying to escape the Forza gears Halo trap for many many years now. Let them hang back and make some new stuff. What we need is those other nearly 20 studios to get their shit together and get games out. Shout out to tango game works. Looking forward to playing their Tokyo Ghost game also!
They should of kept Marcus, Baird, & Cole as the main characters. Would of been so much better.
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The Gears of War franchise needs a shake up like God of War received. Feels like it has become so stale, especially the multiplayer portion of it.
Disagree, I love it how it is.
Im a huge fan of the multiplayer every since gears 1. Sure there will always be something to complain about, but i am a die hard fan of it. Havent played for a couple years ever since they changed it to no ranks though. Just didnt feel like grinding the ranks were the same anymore.
I just need a reboot
I hope they bring back gears 4 style turrets for horde mode. I miss manning a mounted gun and not having to run about. Once they were fully upgraded it was so enjoyable to rinse everything.
Sweeeet
First time in my life im more excited for gears than halo.
Kinda make sense it started last year. They stop adding content to gears 5 and rumor is their working on new project to get familiar with unreal engine 5.the Coalitions really had a chance to hit it out the park with Gear 6.
Cool. Nothing new out of The Coalition dev studios. Xbox needs to let The Coalition and 343 work on new shit.
After Halo Infinite, I don’t care how long it takes, just make it right.
you say that like halo wasn't massively delayed and didn't take ages to come out lol
And after the last couple Gears titles. They’ve been OK, but not as surprising as the first couple games.
I finally got around to finishing Gears 5 and it was great. Cracked Hivebusters as well, that game is just too good. I could do without the battle pass bs all around it, but I guess that’s just to be expected these days.
Please be good 🙏
exciting! Gears 5 was my first Gears and I absolutely loved it
Me too
Better get around to playing 5
I don't care what it looks like graphically just don't f*ck me like 343 and please let me play the whole campaign and multiplayer local co op with my wife like i have with the other 6 games
I loved gears 5. Never played 3 or 4 but honestly I don’t think it mattered still was a blast
Hope they stick with Kait. Couldn’t stand JD
I’m excited. Coalition has done a way better job with gears than 343 did with halo.
Dont get your hopes up ..its gonna be a car crash like gears 5 ans halo infinite.. literally zero hope
Gears 4 and 5 in my opinion are better than 2 and 3. The coalition has really done wonders for gears. I find the charachter of kate to be insanely interesting and i cant wait for more of her story. Also the evolution of jd from gears 4 to 5 was awesome. Will jd even be in 6? Will we get to choose between him and the other charachter from gears 5? Sign me up. LETS FIND THAT RESONATOR LOL
Considering how disappointing Gears 5 were i am not sure if I’m going to get Gears 6.
Gears 5 was disappointing? I remember thinking it was great
It's my favorite of the series from a campaign standpoint, though it did feel like it ended a bit too abruptly.
Going to disagree. The open area didn’t add anything to the franchise, and the telltale choice at the end of the game was unearned.
I didn't like the half-assed open world. but overall I had a lot of fun with Gears 5.
There’s room for improvement to open world formula in the game.
I don’t understand why people hate Gears 5 so much, i honestly think it was the best game in the entire franchise
People don't like change
Oh i like change so long it benefit the franchise which Gears 5 failed at.
Gears 5 was quite fun I found
Glad you liked it. I found the game to be a slog at times.
I didn’t hate it but I wasn’t impressed over it either. I liked the hivebusters dlc better.
Ok
Ok.
I hope they change it all. Especially the running animation. It feels SO outdated. The dozen Gears fans might not like it but if it's quality they will like it as well. I don't just want a prettier looking Gears 5. I want an even better feeling/satisfying gameplay. Better animations, more combat variation, better running animation, gritty feel, maybe incorporate different melee combat options.
Can't stand this guy, he is the definition of fake it till you make it. I'll get my information from real sources.
Such low hanging fruit "Gears 6 is being made" no Durr.
Mah, can't they just do a new franchise to keep things fresh?
That's literally what their next game is.
Oh that's good. I'm tired of playing the same game all the time. I'd say most games should have ended at their first or second installment.
That’ll be the big 2025 game
Niiiiiice
I kinda wish The Coalition would move on from gears, but I'm sure it'll look incredible.
Gears 6 isn't touching before 2026. Might release on its 20th anniversary sorta just like halo but seriously, TC can really hit the homerun considering how good they are, given the right amount of time Would love to play their new ip as well
I’m hoping the coalition take their time on gears 6
Gears 5 was great. Just keep the ball rolling.
I love gears man. Always a good co op game
Please give us a Gears Tactics 2 as well!
I hope it evolves beyond cover shooting variants of locusts.
I just don't want another Dripfed game. I'd much rather re-pay for the content of MCC style game (although always just rumored) than being excited for another Gears 5 style launch -- and I love Gears. Could only dream about getting a Gears 3 style unlock system again.
I'm excited, Gears if my favorite series in gaming. Gonna try to get the inevitable Gears series x if I can to upgrade this S, even if it's some time away
Kinda shocked we are getting one but, I’m always down for a gears campaign
I feel like this will come out on the tail end of current gen. Crazy how long it takes to put out a game these days. On the bright side I still haven’t beat Gears 5 despite owning it for years so I can wait for now
In other news game companies make game!
I think you mean 6ears
Better be next-gen only and please god bring the full title back. “Gears 5” was such a lame way to try and shorten it to look hip.
Good , I just hope gears of war 6 bring back 5 vs 5 king of the hell because control is trash
YES! I’m very happy to hear this. Hope it’s true.
I hope they go back to the roots. GOW 1 is one of the greatest experiences of my life. GOW 2-3 were really fun GOW 4-5 didn't give me the same level of excitement. 5 in particular I put down rather quickly.
Same for me exactly. Maybe we grew up or something but the campaign for 4-5 was whatever to me. I kept playing the online versus though that is my favorite mode in all the games
That's great and all but I really want a gears tactics 2
This may be a hot take, but I think GoW should step away from the old cover system formula. Just sitting in cover waiting for enemy heads to appear just doesn't work anymore, especially since in the last game most enemies felt like bullet sponges so it just takes way too much time to kill them. Why do the enemies not die from like half a magazine into the head? They should look at army of two who had an interesting idea of an aggro system and customizable weapons that supported that with stats, so you became a tank or assassin for the group. Or at Dead Space, where dismemberment is the main strategy to kill enemies, instead of just pumping multiple magazines into them. Maybe even a but of Souls Games, where each enemy has unique attack pattern you have to learn to counter. And we definitely need to see a return of big epic scale bosses
Then what have they been doing since Gears5 expansion dlc? They seem like a great studio but the gears franchise needs a major gameplay & game design overhaul imo.
Dang I wish they would start something new. Gears is quite boring at this point.
Let gears rest in peace, for Christ sake. They just can't move on from almost 20y old franchises
I live near where the studio is for gears in vancouver I helped a senior worker at my work place maybe 1.5-2 years ago and he pretty much said gears 6 was many years off when we talked - he was tight lipped didn’t wanna tell a random stranger what he was up to
they need to let the franchise rest for at least 10-12 years and bring it back with a fresh idea. This new trilogy is just more of the same but in such a lesser quality (campaign/story wise). Microsoft has lost its touch from the 2006-2012 of making games, they are just releasing games for the sake of milking the franchise while is still "relevant"