Over the next week, Microsoft will release a new Gears of War game. The advent of Gears 5 is not exactly a shock in and of itself. The muscular sci-fi shooter is a 30m selling franchise that has made its creators over $1bn in revenue and partly drove the success of the Xbox 360 console. It has inspired a slew of comic books and novels. A sequel in the sequel-loving video game industry? Who would have thought it.
But Gears 5 carries a significant weight on its broad shoulders. While it may be appearing at the tail end of the Xbox One consoles life-cycle, it will become the flagship title for Microsofts growing Game Pass subscription service. For the best part of 18 months now, Microsoft Game Studios has been releasing its first-party games on the Netflix-style service, which players pay a monthly fee for access to a downloadable library of games on Xbox One and PC.
Source: N4G PC Gears 5: How Xbox's big Game Pass gamble could shape the future of the gaming industry