Gears of War: E-Day is almost here, but that doesn’t mean its developers have been spared in Microsoft’s latest wave of layoffs as part of the Xbox “reset.” While The Coalition, the studio currently working on the Gears of War series, was not mentioned by name in Matt Booty’s “Continuing Our Reset” blog post, story director Juan Vaca announced on LinkedIn that he is now looking for work.
“I am part of this round of Microsoft layoffs and am open to new opportunities in games/film/tv,” he wrote. “If your team needs a director/storyteller please reach out.” It is perhaps especially galling given that Gears of War: E-Day went gold just days before the layoffs were announced, with a full release planned for Oct. 6.
It has felt increasingly like there is simply no amount of success, sales, acclaim, or back-breaking work you can demonstrate in the games industry to avoid some pencil pusher’s job cut scythe. It’s not just Microsoft’s massive rounds of layoffs—take a studio like Star Wars Zero Company developer Bit Reactor, which furloughed most of its staff despite glowing reviews and over a million copies sold. This situation with Vaca echoes when, last year, a writer on Apex Legends was laid off just one day after a character she spent a year writing was unveiled.
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For a primer on all the most reliable ways you can get laid off in the games industry, check out our guide on that very phenomenon. It is a sobering time to wish you could cheer on the medium’s every step forward, given that the reward for doing the work seems to be a kick out the door.