Ever wonder why Gears 5 dropped the "of war" bit? We've got the inside scoop.
Gears of War first arrived way back in 2006, and since then spawned one of Xbox's most beloved franchises. Every game after that followed the simple naming convention of adding a number to the end of "Gears of War" with the exception of Gears of War: Judgement which got a little wordy.
And also Gears 5. The fourth sequel to the Gears of War franchise dropped the "of War" moniker. Most of us really didn't question why as the franchise had long since been colloquially shorted to just "Gears" anyway, but a few fans might have been wondering what gives.
Rod Fergusson, producer for Gears 5, recently sat down with Screen Rant to dish on just why they dropped "of War" from the franchise. As usual, it's the marketers you gotta convince first.
“We wanted to make sure that the franchise stayed Gears of War, because we have comic books and a novel and movie and other things. We still wanted to be Gears of War, but I was trying to find a way to just help modernize it. Because, you know, we're Gears of War: the next generation. So, I wanted it to feel a little bit different.
"I tried to do it in Gears 4, with the E3 poster that has the missing JD head and says Gears 4 on it without the “Gears of War” as my test, and then marketing went, ‘Nah, we're gonna keep it.’ We get to 5, and then I make my case again, and I'm starting to win. Then we started talking about Gears POP! and Gears Tactics, and it was really clear that as a family it makes more sense. Because having to go Gears of War POP! and Gears of War Tactics is a mouthful. Having this sort of Gears 5, Gears POP!, Gears Tactics, all part of the Gears of War family – that felt really good, and that’s how we're moving forward.”
Gears 5 arrives on September 10th, but you can get it as early as September 6th if you subscribe to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. This game will be the biggest in Gears of War history, so make sure you've got your game already preloaded. Preloads went live earlier this week.
Source: ScreenRant