Following the unexpected release of a trailer for Gears of War: E-Day, which confirmed a version for the PlayStation 5, Aaron Greenberg, an Xbox marketing executive, stated that the cancellation of this release was not a last-minute decision. He explained on social media that the news was shared only with a small internal group, and the intention was to inform players during an upcoming showcase.
Many are questioning the reasoning behind this approach. Despite spending several years on the game and preparing a trailer, Xbox also submitted the game for age rating and informed retailers, all while aiming to surprise fans. This has led to skepticism among industry observers.
The original trailer, which showed the PS5 logo, was unintentionally uploaded to an Xbox Podcast and later removed. This incident has highlighted Microsoft’s reactive nature regarding gaming releases. Notably, journalist Jeff Grubb had previously suggested that a nearly complete version of the game for PS5 existed.
In a post-show interview, Xbox head Matt Booty struggled to clarify the company’s stance on exclusivity. Additionally, Chief Strategy Officer Matthew Ball offered no comments when pressed for details earlier in the day.
Now it is confirmed that The Coalition, the studio behind the game, had prepared a trailer featuring the PS5 branding. The game had been rated by PEGI, the age rating authority, for release on Sony’s platform, and listings had appeared in retail databases as recently as the day before. This situation has raised eyebrows in the gaming community. Future updates from Xbox are anticipated to clarify their strategy.
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