After 'Crunching Hard' Through Their Final Months, Gears of War: E-Day Developers Are Reportedly Now Expecting Layoffs

Gears of War: E-Day developers are reportedly on edge following months of overtime and new fears of layoff. According to a Eurogamer report, The Coalition, Microsoft's dedicated Gears of War team, has been working on the game for five years. Microsoft has made multiple rounds of redundancies, but staff at The Coalition felt insulated from job losses due to their work on the high-profile project.

However, as their time building E-Day has wound down, there are serious concerns about potential layoffs. One source said the team feels "let's not celebrate the game until we're three months post-launch, just in case." Microsoft has aimed to cut 3,200 jobs across the company this year, with two batches of layoffs and significant structural changes already announced.

Gears of War team members are now on edge, especially following the demoralizing layoff of story director Juan Vaca just two weeks before the game's release. Microsoft has declined to comment, but it's understood they acknowledge staff's hard work on E-Day, and out-of-hours effort will be rewarded with additional holiday leave.