In an interview with IGN, The Coalition’s studio head Rod Fergusson revealed the Gears of War movie is being excluded from the franchise’s canon.
“In order for the movie to be successful, it has to be a great movie first and a Gears movie second,” Fergusson said. “Basically the way that we sort of reconciled that was, we said, ‘oh the movie should be an alternate reality. It should not be dependent on the game story, nor should it influence the game story.’”
Fergusson said by doing this, they’d not only allow there to be more room for potential with what could happen in the movie but to allow new creatives with different processes to think about the Gears world in a unique way. Fergusson said they take this approach with all the Gears worldbuilding media, like the Gears of War books and comics.
Source: IGN.com The Gears of War Movie Is Set in an Alternate Reality