Former Gears Of War Lead Knew E-Day Wouldn’t Thrive On Xbox 360

The next chapter in the Gears of War franchise will be a prequel covering the makings of Marcus and Dom’s brotherhood, alongside the Locust invasion. Gears of War: E-Day is a concept that The Coalition has pondered over for generations, but a former lead believes the title wouldn’t have thrived on the Xbox 360.

After the first E-Day trailer dropped during Xbox’s Summer Game Fest showcase, fans were elated to see the stunning visuals created in Unreal Engine 5. The devs have also promised the fandom that E-Day will be a title full of origin stories, from the Locust’s invasion to the dawning of the Chainsaw Lancer.

Gears Of War: E-Day Belongs In Unreal Engine 5 Over The Xbox 360

In an interview with GamesRadar during the Xbox Games Showcase, general manager of the Diablo franchise and former creative lead on the Gears series, Rod Fergusson, reflected on his time as a Gears developer, and he viewed this E-Day installment from more of a fan’s perspective.

Fergusson noted E-Day as the tenth overall Gears game and confirmed he had nothing to do with the development of this entry. “I’ve had creative involvement in all of the previous nine, so this is the first I haven’t had anything to do with. I didn’t even know it was going to be E-Day.” Noting that he previously had his own ideas of what Gears 6 would look like, Fergusson admitted “I love what they are doing.”

The former lead also shared that fans were asking “How come you haven’t done E-Day?” back when he was working on Gears 1-5, and Fergusson believed it never came to fruition back then because of technology limitations. “A part of it was that we didn’t feel like the technology could render it right. It’s this massive invasion, where tens of millions of people get killed; we just didn’t think we could do it justice on Xbox 360.”

The Xbox system has gone through two generations since the 360 and technology has advanced significantly since those days too, with UE5 showing impressive specs in the industry. Noting the software’s impact on bringing E-Day to life, Fergusson shared “But now, looking at what The Coalition is doing with UE5, and what they’re able to achieve with the Series X, this is the perfect time to have an E-Day story. I’m so excited to see what they do, and I’m proud of them.”

Considering its scale, bringing such an iconic event in Gears history to life on the older console would have been a disservice in Fergusson’s eyes, but UE5 is now capable of making E-Day a reality.

Gears of War: E-Day is reportedly targeting a 2025 release date.

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