The Gears of War franchise has had a long-standing connection with the Xbox brand. When the first game in the series was released by Epic Games and Microsoft in 2006, it became an immediate critical and commercial success, selling over 3 million copies on the Xbox 360 alone. The original Gears of War popularized the cover shooter genre and inspired many other iconic games, such as Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Warhammer 40K: Space Marine. Since its debut, the franchise has become an Xbox icon, alongside the likes of Halo and Forza, and has received consistent new releases on Xbox and PC for almost two decades.
Soon, however, it appears that Gears of War will no longer be an Xbox-exclusive franchise. The reputable insider eXtas1s alleged in one of his recent YouTube videos that the series will make its PlayStation debut in the near future. eXtas1s not only claimed that Microsoft is developing a remastered compilation of the first three installments in the Gears of War series, but he also stated that it would launch on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC on day one. A compilation like this has been in the rumor mill for quite some time now, and if it truly exists, it could be a double-edged sword for the Gears of War franchise.
Gears of War: E-Day Is a Gold Mine for DLC
Gears of War: E-Day's premise being what it is, it's hard to deny the potential that it holds for DLC to tell its story from different perspectives.
The Rumored Gears of War Collection Has Some Major Pros and Cons
Gears of War 2 and 3 Could Finally Be Freed From their Xbox 360 Prison
The original Gears of War trilogy may be iconic, but it isn’t easily accessible on modern platforms. Although the first game in the franchise has been re-released on Xbox consoles and Windows PCs multiple times, the other two installments have remained exclusive to the Xbox 360. Gears of War 2 and Gears of War 3 initially debuted on the console in 2008 and 2011, respectively, and have never received native ports on any other platforms ever since. However, the games have been made backwards compatible on modern Xbox consoles, and can run at a buttery smooth 60 FPS on Xbox Series X/S.
While the lack of PlayStation and Nintendo ports for Gears of War 2 and 3 was understandable, it's quite strange that they never made their way to PC. Microsoft has been releasing games on PC storefronts like Steam and Epic Games Store for nearly a decade at this point, and has also ported most of its other major Xbox exclusives, like Halo: The Master Chief Collection, to the platform. If the company re-releases Gears of War 2 and 3 as part of this rumored Gears collection, it would finally be righting one of its biggest wrongs. These critically acclaimed third-person shooters would become available to more players than ever before on not just PC, but also PlayStation.
The Gears Collection Could Make Gamers More Interested in a Gears Sequel Instead of a Prequel
The one and, perhaps, the most notable issue with the alleged Gears of War collection, though, is that it could set the wrong expectations for the future of the franchise. Many gamers who are introduced to the Gears of War series through this compilation may want to experience the remainder of the franchise’s saga in Gears 4 and 5, and find out how the story unfolds in the as-of-yet unannounced Gears 6. Unfortunately for those fans, the next installment in the Gears of War franchise will not be a sequel, but rather a prequel.
Microsoft and the Canadian-based developer The Coalition revealed during the 2024 Xbox Games Showcase that they were working on Gears of War: E-Day, a new Gears game set 14 years before the events of the first entry in the series. Although its announcement generated a lot of excitement among the Gears fanbase, some were disappointed that this game wasn’t Gears 6. At the time, The Coalition expressed that it had no intentions to abandon the story arc established in Gears 4 and 5. However, given how long game development takes nowadays, it could be years until the company releases a proper sequel to those titles. Because of this, people who pick up the rumored Gears of War trilogy collection in hopes of getting their hands on Gears 6 anytime soon will end up disappointed.
