Gears studio head addresses layoff fears after E-Day launch
The boss of Gears of War studio The Coalition has addressed fears among staff that jobs could be cut straight after the launch of Gears of War: E-Day.
Mike Crump, the Microsoft-owned studio's head, spoke about the worries in an interview with the BBC, published on 8 October 2026. His message to the team was to focus on the things they can control, because things like layoffs are out of their control. Video Games Chronicle
The concern, as reported, is blunt. Staff were said to be worried they could be laid off immediately following E-Day's release, with story director Juan Vaca laid off two weeks before the game arrived. Staff also raised concern that a cut soon after release could cost them a contracted bonus tied to reaching a certain score on Metacritic, a website that aggregates review scores into a single number.
Crump did not give specifics when asked whether cuts are planned for the Canadian studio. That detail was reported by Eurogamer, which attributes his wider comments to the BBC interview.
His focus, he said, is shipping a great game that people will love. He feels the team has done that.
That context matters. The Coalition, the studio behind Gears 4, Gears 5 and E-Day, mostly survived wide-ranging cuts across Xbox initiated by Xbox chief executive Asha Sharma in an attempt to bring the gaming division back to profitability. But the studio is not untouched. It lost more than 120 staff in layoffs in 2024, and one of E-Day's collectibles is a letter from the studio thanking those that are no longer with the organisation.
E-Day itself has had a strong start on PC. The game posted the series' best numbers on Steam, Valve's PC storefront, while remaining an Xbox console exclusive. Crump has described that exclusivity as a "natural choice", saying Gears has been an Xbox-exclusive franchise for 20 years and carries the banner for Xbox. IGN
He said the studio measures success by showcasing the platform, pushing hardware to its limits and showing what Xbox is capable of. The goal, in his words, is to be the best-looking game on Xbox.
For players, this means the long wait should not repeat. The Coalition shipped Gears 5 in 2019 and took seven years to develop and release E-Day, which had its early-access launch trailer published by Xbox on 1 October 2026. Crump said E-Day was largely built from scratch rather than built on top of previous Gears titles, and will provide a foundation for future entries.
The next game will not take nearly as long to make. Crump pointed to continuity, saying the leadership team has worked together for upwards of 20 years. No future projects have been announced.
