The Coalition has been working on theGears of Warfranchise for a decade now, with the 2015 remasterGears of War: Ultimate Editionbeing the studio’s first project following its rename from Black Tusk Studios two months earlier. Since then,The Coalitionhas worked on four otherGears of Warprojects, with its fifth,Gears of War: E-Day, currently in the works. But The Coalition has had some help along the way.
Since becoming the de facto head of theGears of Warfranchise, The Coalition has worked alongside at least two other studios, with Mediatonic helping to createGears Pop!in 2019, and Splash Damage helping to makeGears Tacticsin 2020. The Coalition’s recent pattern of co-development is going to continue withGears of War: E-Day, with developer People Can Fly confirmed to be working on the upcoming prequel. People Can Fly has a pretty solid track record in the gaming industry, and its involvement inGears of War: E-Daycould lead to a unique opportunity for the franchise.
Gears of War: E-Day Should Get a VR Companion Game
People Can Fly’s VR Track Record
While Polish studio People Can Fly got its start in the industry by producing the 2004 FPSPainkiller, it spent most of its early years working alongside Epic Games. People Can Fly worked on the PC port ofthe originalGears of War, and it helped Epic Games to produceBulletstorm,Gears of War: Judgment, andFortnite’s Save the World component.
After a brief stint with Square Enix that resulted in the release of 2021’sOutriders, People Can Fly switched gears, turning its attention to the world of VR. In 2022, People Can Fly’s Incuvo studio produced the VR version ofGreen Hell, a survival game originally created by developer Creepy Jar in 2019. People Can Fly’s most recent release was2024’sBulletstorm VR, giving the 2011 Sci-Fi shooter a virtual reality makeover.
Green Hell VRreceived fairly decent review scores, with many outlets commending the game’s implementation of survival mechanics in a VR world.Bulletstorm VR, on the other hand, was met with a more divisive reception due to missing content from the original 2011 release and some technical issues, but its post-launch updates have helped to turn things around.
People Can Fly Should Make a VR Tie-In for Gears of War: E-Day
Based on the official partnership announcement, it seems as though People Can Fly is working solely onco-developingGears of War: E-Day. But there’s an opportunity for People Can Fly to draw on its past experiences and produce a really uniqueGears of War: E-Daycompanion piece.
While Xbox doesn’t currently have any VR projects of its own, the company’s latest strategy is to put its first-party games on more platforms. There are already rumors thatXbox could be bringingGears of Warto PlayStation soon, and it could crack open that floodgate first with a VRGears of Wargame developed by People Can Fly, potentially in partnership with a platform like Meta. This hypotheticalGearsVR game could act as a companion story toE-Day, focusing on a different set of COG soldiers as they battle the Locust armies bursting out of the ground.
Gears of War: E-Day
WHERE TO PLAY
The Story of E-DayFourteen years before Gears of War, war heroes Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago return home to face a new nightmare: the Locust Horde. These subterranean monsters, grotesque and relentless, erupt from below, laying siege on humanity itself. New FoundationsBuilt from the ground up with Unreal Engine 5, Gears of War: E-Day delivers unprecedented graphical fidelity.
