New Gears of War title confirmed by job listing
by Danny Craig
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Microsoft
Rumors of a new Gears of War (GoW) title have been floating around since the release of 2019’s Gears 5, but a new job listing at The Coalition has confirmed that the next instalment is in the works.
The details:
- On Microsoft's career site, a new job posting for a Senior Gameplay Designer to work on the GoW franchise has appeared. The position is stationed at The Coalition, a first-party studio at Microsoft that was handed the duties to develop the GoW series after it was purchased from Epic Games in 2014, starting with GoW: Ultimate Edition.
- Although GoW 6 is not explicitly stated, the listing does state that the studio is looking for someone to "help create AAA game experiences," implying a mainline game rather than a spin-off like Gears Tactics. Claims that a remastered collection of the original trilogy is in the works have previously surfaced, with insider Nick Baker claiming that it is still in development as of January 2023, although this is most likely not the same project.
- In February, GoW 2 and 3 writer Joshua Ortega quoted retweeted an old thread of his work on the franchise with the caption "Once again, it’s on!" teasing fans that he may be returning to work on the next title. If Ortega wasn’t just getting fans’ hopes up, he could be involved in the same GoW project that The Coalition is currently hiring for.
Other notable GoW and Coalition news:
- Netflix confirmed in November that it was working on a GoW live-action film as well as an animated series. Both projects are being developed in collaboration with The Coalition, and former WWE wrestler Dave Bautista appears to be involved or at least pushing for a role as main character Marcus Fenix.
- The studio suffered from layoffs in January as part of a wave of 10,000 job cuts at Microsoft in an effort to cut costs as the world's economy continues to struggle. The layoffs allegedly coincided with the cancellation of two games, causing the studio to focus all of its efforts on the next installment of the GoW franchise.
