The next mainline entry in the Gears of War series, Gears of War 6, won't release for another three or four years, according to a new rumor.
On the latest episode of the Xbox News Cast, guest Rand al Thor, a YouTuber believed to have connections within the games industry, claimed that Gears of War 6 will arrive in either 2024 or 2025, after another project that developer The Coalition is working on.
He adds that he heard this information from Windows Central's own Jez Corden, who has previously leaked details for other supposed Xbox projects from first-party developers like Compulsion Games and Obsidian Entertainment.
Apparently, The Coalition's next project is a brand new, smaller IP, which will release ahead of Gears of War 6 in 2023. There are so far no other details on this project, aside from the fact that it's different from The Matrix Awakens tech demo, which The Coalition collaborated on alongside Epic Games.
Gears of War 6 hasn't been officially confirmed by either Microsoft or The Coalition, but it seems like a safe bet considering how successful the series is. At the time of its launch, Gears 5 had the "biggest launch week of any Xbox Game Studios title this generation" according to Microsoft.
Things are getting Unreal (5)
The Coalition has already stated that it has shifted to working with Unreal Engine 5, which is what The Matrix Awakens runs on. So, whatever it's working on next, it will undoubtedly use the latest technology and aim to take full advantage of the Xbox Series X/S's hardware.
"As we look to future games, we’re excited to start shifting our resources to next-gen development using Unreal Engine 5," the developer wrote in a blog post back in May. "Gears of War has always been at the front of Unreal Engine development – as a breakout 720p title for Xbox 360 through last year’s 120FPS multiplayer update for Xbox Series X/S – and we’re excited to continue that tradition by developing on UE5 for multiple new projects in the coming years."
The Gears of War franchise was originally helmed by Epic Games until Microsoft acquired the rights in 2014. Starting with 2015's Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, a remaster of the first game from 2008, The Coalition took over as developer.
While the last mainline entry, Gears 5, was released in 2019, a turn-based strategy game spin-off called Gears Tactics was released in 2020 to whet fans' appetites. Two of the main characters, Marcus Fenix and Kait Diaz, are also now available in Fortnite as unlockable skins - and it sounds like this could be the closest fans get to a new Gears of War game for a few years yet.
