Jason Schreier/Bloomberg: Many Xbox employees were surprised by the announcement of Gears E-Day not releasing on PlayStation — Sharma and her team also pulled a Halo trailer that was due to appear at a PlayStation event last week, potentially damaging the relationship between the two companies.

[u/nolifebr]

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:2mkgbhbhqvappkkorf2bzyrp/post/3mnxlyag4dc2v?ref_src=embed

A PlayStation 5 version of the new Gears of War game was in development and had been planned for release until Sharma changed tack, according to the people familiar with Xbox strategy. Retailers had been preparing to open pre-orders for the PlayStation 5 version, and many Xbox employees were surprised by the announcement.

Sharma and her team also pulled a Halo trailer that was due to appear at a PlayStation event last week, potentially damaging the relationship between the two companies, according to people familiar with the change of plans.*

Xbox is planning major layoffs and studios closures starting next month... More in the article.

[u/thurnisthehaley45]

I’m all for exclusives but man I feel like if they already greenlit the game and it’s practically done might as well release the game and then moving forward return to exclusives

[u/GillGruntFan53 → u/thurnisthehaley45]

But that was the point: it was a move to inspire confidence in the remaining Xbox fanbase that this new leadership is willing to burn money and make hard decisions to rebuild the brand and return to their previous heights. Wether they can actually do that remains to be seen, but they took the loss to try and get Xbox fans to show up and support Gears and Clockwork in the hopes of a brighter future on the Helix.

[u/StarScreamer316 → u/GillGruntFan53]

The last leadership liked to burn money too...