You forgot about creative freedom ™
Microsoft doesn’t have to be happy with the game as long as the studio is, right? 
My issue with Gears is, alright, even if they’re good and at a level of success, don’t you think there’s potential for greater things there with Coalition? Things that could actually move the needle for Xbox… That’s most of what we’re saying here.
Gears 4, 5. Good games, good success. But ok? That’s it. They don’t move the needle, they don’t innovate, and they don’t generate that hype or conversation. And the talent behind them absolutely has it in them to create things that move the needle and generate that hype and conversation for Xbox.
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It’s usually the fans that want to continue making games despite being unsuccessful, not the companies.
So if they keep making them, the games are serving their purpose.
I’m sure that people who aren’t fans of Gears will want to see other games from the Coalition, just like people who don’t like racing games want to see games from Playground other than Horizon.
Fortunately we will have both + new Gears and FH games.
Here’s a crazy theory but maybe just maybe the team at The Coalition might just like making Gears games, crazy thought though.
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And Gears is a valuable brand, it’s not going anywhere as long as they can keep making it. I expect to see more Gears games not less.
The developers at The Coalition will keep making it as long as they want to, if they want something else, they will pursue something else, in The Coalition or in another studio.
I think Gears 5 absolutely did move the needle, so that’s where we disagree. I’m pretty sure Gears was a great magnet to get people into Game Pass in particular, the record-breaking launch only supports that. There is a very core and strong Gears community out there which makes ignoring such an important core audience seem like a very bad decision. Especially if we look at Mexico / Latin America.
Creating something different has the potential to be interesting as well, but … and people ignore that a bit … there is also the risk it is much worse than the known quality of Gears. ‘New’ doesn’t translate do ‘better’.
Here is my main thought process on Gears: the last few entries always were in the position to have the burden of having to carry the whole Xbox division as there were so few first-party games. This situation doesn’t exist anymore and Gears Next will be in a position where it has more room to breathe, as it won’t release as some kind of lone wolf blockbuster Xbox game. Gears Next will be one of many Xbox games, and that gives both the team as well as the series itself the chance to really shine on its own without the pressure of having to carry a whole year of Xbox.
We can also predict today already that Gears Next will receive the longest dev time The Coalition ever had on a game. I don’t expect Gears Next before 2024 – that is still some good time to come, and people will think about a Gears return different by then, some will even be impatient already.
Gears is a core part of the Xbox DNA. And it should absolutely stay this way.
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This will be TC’s 3rd Gears game and we just saw what 343 did with their 3rd one. 3rd time’s the charm and first 2 attempts were damn good.
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10000% this
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A game can be relatively successful and still underperform. Given how the MP dropped like a brick, I would say MS were hoping for longer staying power than what I got, so even if it made its money back and a bit of profit, I highly doubt they’re happy with it overall.
The franchise is declining. That is undeniable.
The games are costing more time and money to make, and Coalition is far too valuable to remain shackled to the Gears IP.
Why wait for it be deemed unsuccessful before moving on?
I suspect they know that too if their smaller UE5 project is a new game, instead of a smaller Gears experience.
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Says who? The Coalition and Microsoft determine if it is successful or not, the game doesn’t need to be played by 10m people to be successful.
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My definition of moving the needle is if it brings people into Xbox, that is fans of other platforms. We have no evidence that that happened in any way. And while yes it did great for Game Pass, no denying that, it brought people from Xbox into Game Pass, not people from PS/Nintendo into Xbox.
I’m suggesting they don’t ignore that, but seperate the Gears online component and support it as its own thing for that audience.
Risk gave us Gears of War. Risk gave us Forza Horizon. So absolutely risk things again, that’s how great things are born.
If that’s just it and it can’t change, then at least actually innovate with it. The Gears TPS core is old now and has been surpassed by many great mechanics in the last 7 years in the industry. You have the Gears universe, create big games in it that are different and innovative on all levels possible. Games that don’t just feel like Gears with that tone and attitude, but foundationally different, blockbuster games.
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Was equally important at the time. Gears was the jump off point for Game Pass growth from what I recall. Also driven by that $1 upgrade deal lol.
I actually agree with this. I think Gears 5 gameplay was definitely showing age. I don’t know if they plan to change the formula for Gears 6 but I think the game would definitely benefit from that.
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The only IP that’s truly part of the Xbox DNA is Halo.
Gears was just another big risk that paid off, was outrageously successful for a good number of years, and then it started to decline as both platform sales and interest declined.
That’s okay. Not every IP has to last forever. Nor do they have to go away for ever.
It’s been 11 years since Fable 3. An extended break (albeit unintended) has done nothing but good for the IP.
Gears is basically a third person Doom game. It doesn’t need to go away forever, it can be brought back and refreshed for a new time and generation. It has to actually take a significant break for that to happen though.
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Not when it costs tens of millions. And remember, I only said “IF” because honestly we can’t know for sure but just deduce and speculate.
There’s a dedicated thread for whining about Gears
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awesome
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@Klobrille
You saw Avowed, i know what you saw is not finished and polished and miss staff but can you answer
How close it to Hellblade ii (The quality of the visuals ) ?
Obsidian wasn’t as good as ninja theory in that area but if it near from it (80%~90%) that’s will be a huge upgrade from what we have before from obsidian
obsidian didn’t give us an update as they promised “soon” : (
but you can : )