We're mere days away from the launch of Gears of War: E-Day, and the return of one of Microsoft's banner game franchises. What should be excitement for developer The Coalition is reportedly closer to dread, as team members fear being let go once the highly anticipated game ships.
According to a report from Eurogamer, a number of staff at the studio are anxious about the coming weeks amid ongoing layoffs across Microsoft's games wing. Since July, hundreds of roles have been cut across the myriad studios owned and operated by Xbox.
CEO Asha Sharma stated that a total of 3,200 jobs would be let go over the course of a harsh restructuring process. We've seen Halo Studios, Obsidian, Bethesda, Ninja Theory, and more impacted by these changes, and people at The Coalition believe they could be next.
Comments made to Eurogamer paint a picture of existential dread as the release day for the new Gears of War approaches. Though the studio had a reputation as one of the "good children" at Microsoft, as one source put it, a combination of internal changes and the game's release is ratcheting up the nerves.
Until now, The Coalition considered itself relatively safe because the developers were working on a flagship property and consistently delivered results. But when Juan Vaca, story director on E-Day, was laid off last week, amid several others quietly let go recently, reality set in that perhaps nobody is truly safe.
"I can only imagine the heartbreak of spending all those years on a game to have the final stretch ripped away, completely out of your control," said a source on Vaca's exit. "It's like you planned for a year on a meal for your family where everyone will be there and the day of, you get locked out of the building or something and can't join in."
Indeed, there are many who aren't far off Vaca in terms of time spent on the project. Recent months have been a crunch period, but it feels like there's nothing they can do to avert changes. "We honestly expected the layoffs to hit us post-release, but that seems to not matter now," says one developer. "Now we're just expecting the next wave, or being reorganized under Activision or something later this year."
There are also worries that anyone laid off now would miss out on post-release bonuses tied to the game's critical performance. "It's hard to believe anything [Microsoft leadership] say anymore after discarding staff in this manner," one developer stated, with another adding they "wouldn't put it past" the corporation to hold back on those lucrative payouts.
At the time of writing, Gears of War: E-Day has debuted to a Metacritic score of 87. Sadly, all anyone can do is see what happens in the coming weeks. The Coalition has plans for five seasons of updates post-launch for E-Day, including celebrating the property's 20th anniversary in November.
