Gears of War: E-Day's gorgeous trailer wasn't just CG, it used assets "that players will see in the final game"

Gears of War: E-Day debuted at last night's Xbox Game Showcase with a gorgeous (and very shadowy) trailer that showed perennial beefcake Marcus Fenix beating down Locust in a prequel setting. But despite looking like a snazzy CG advert, the trailer supposedly uses assets ripped straight from the game. 

The Gears of War: E-Day trailer was created by Blur Studio, the animation house that previously produced amazing CGI cutscenes for multiple Halo games, which led to many comments online claiming the trailer was totally computer generated. Xbox's marketing director Guy Welch then jumped onto social media to clear things up.

"The trailer is developed with in-game models, textures, environments and props that players will see in the final game," Welch tweeted. "This follows the same method that we used for the Gears of War trailers for the first three games, which were made in Unreal Engine with in-game assets" - only this time, the teams are using Unreal Engine 5.

Jamir Blanco, a cinematic character artist at Blizzard, then chimed in too: "saying it was a 'CG from Blur Studio' diminishes all the technical achievements you probably didn't notice from how good it was. Though it looks like another pre-rendered CG piece from Blur, it was actually a realtime masterpiece using in-game assets and [ray-traced] lighting in the same engine the game will play."

In a statement to Gamesradar+, a spokesperson from The Coalition clarified that the trailer does indeed use "in-game models, textures and environments" and is supposed to represent "our visual target for the game" - though, it is not in fact captured in real time. 

I usually roll my eyes when games get announced with glossy CG cutscenes that absolutely give nothing away and serve only as a "hey, we're making this thing" message. So, it's nice to hear that the Gears of War: E-Day trailer is at least a little indicative of what we can expect the final game to look like, scaly bug demons and all.

Good looks and oversized hunks aside, we also know that Gears of War: E-Day is throwing things back to the series' Emergence Day when, y'know, the subterranean hordes emerged from beneath Sera - the Gearsverse's Earth equivalent. Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago might be back in the spotlight, but The Coalition still has eyes on a potential Gears 6 as the team isn't "retreating" from the cliffhanger leftover from Gears 5. 

No release date yet but Gears of War: E-Day is crawling up on Xbox Series X|S and PC at some point. 

See everything else announced at the Xbox Games Showcase for an overview of all the new games and reveals.