Just hours before the Xbox Games Showcase aired, a rumour surfaced claiming that Gears of War: E-Day would be an Xbox exclusive and that the PlayStation 5 version had therefore been scrapped. Xbox boss Asha Sharma had previously hinted that it was time to start focusing on exclusive content for Xbox again, but nothing really indicated that this was a decision that would be made quickly; on the contrary, Microsoft signalled that it would take time and require evaluation.
Now there are signs that the exclusivity and the overall strategy (which we reported on yesterday) were, after all, decided at the last minute. Via Threads, The Verge editor Tom Warren points out that just one day after the announcement, the Xbox team released a podcast episode in which the PlayStation 5 was still listed as one of the platforms Gears of War: E-Day would launch on (though this was quickly taken down once it was noticed).
All in all, there's a lot to suggest that, even quite close to the event, there were still plans to bring the game to Sony's consoles, which in turn means that somewhere in a storage room, there's a nearly finished PlayStation 5 version (along with a Pro edition) of Gears of War: E-Day that will likely never see the light of day.
It should be noted, however, that Xbox veteran Aaron Greenberg stated on social media that this was not a last-minute decision and had been known internally for a month. That doesn't change the fact, however, that Microsoft still released a video listing the PlayStation 5 as a platform as recently as yesterday, which many commenters believe suggests that things may have happened a bit too close to the event, after all.
Gears of War: E-Day is set to release on October 6, and we have a new, substantial preview to share with all the latest information on Marcus Fenix's big return.
<social>https://www.threads.com/@tomwarrenuk/post/DZVyVBTl-yR</social>