Rumored Gears of War Collection reportedly includes campaign co-op for the OG Xbox 360 games, but no PvP multiplayer

Key art for Gears of War. — (Image credit: Epic Games, Microsoft Game Studios)

A Gears of War Collection compiling all three games from the original trilogy has been rumored for a long, long time, but whispers are swirling around the internet once more, and the more credible ones say the re-releases won't include competitive multiplayer.

Rumors of a Gears of War: Marcus Fenix Collection have been around since at least 2022, and they're just as believable now as they were back then. Microsoft already bundled five of their iconic games in Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Gears' alien apocalypse was equally impactful in its own generation. Just think back on how many Xbox 360/PS3 games had a urine yellow filter (Fallout 3, MGS 4) and cover-based shooting, even where it wasn't really necessary (Tomb Raider's reboot, Uncharted.)

Considering how wonky The Master Chief Collection's matchmaking was in its first few weeks, I wouldn't blame the developers for not wanting to stitch together dozens of maps and modes from three different games into one package. It's probably a coding nightmare. On the other hand, Halo: MCC's commitment to preserving 100s of classic maps, some of them two decades old, in a functional, popular game with modern bells and whistles is kind of unbelievable - and was worth the shaky launch, in my opinion.

Microsoft is gearing up to release an all-new prequel called Gears of War: E-Day, however, so it's possible the publisher wouldn't want to split the multiplayer playerbase between two - or even three, if you're including Gears 5 - multiplayer games. And, in fairness, I'll take any excuse to bash through subterranean alien-bug-demon brains once again, especially if the classic shooters are coming to an entirely new audience on PC and PS5, wall-zipping multiplayer or not.