I loved Xbox. Loved. Past tense.
Truly, the 360 generation was arguably the all-time best for console gaming. Sure, it also introduced paid online play with Xbox Live Gold, but we also had achievements, some of the greatest gaming franchise debuts of all time, and a real competitor to Sony’s marketplace dominance.
What was once a hot, fresh ecosystem offering more than its rival quickly fell apart. The Xbox One announcement was not well received, to say the least, and the brand arguably didn't start to recover until the Xbox One X was released.
By then, the generation had been lost. PlayStation started to soar ahead with its PS4, and many Xboxers jumped ship.
I remained. I kept some faith. But the current generation made even bigger mistakes that pushed me away almost completely - until a shining light in the dark appeared to me just the other night.
As a multi-format gamer who ditched my PS4 when the Pro released (as it was a major disappointment compared to the Xbox One X), saying that I almost sold my Series X feels crazy to consider.
Xbox became a shadow of its former self this generation. We watched helplessly as Microsoft seemed to sell off the various parts of the car until only the wheels and engine were left. Now, I don’t want to go into what went wrong and where, but mistakes were made. The ball was dropped repeatedly, and despite a lackluster generation for both Sony and Microsoft, the green team seemed set on self-sabotage - appearing to want to leave the hardware race altogether.
See, I am an original console wars survivor. And despite most people knowing me as a Nintendo fanboy these days, I was 100% Team Sega as a kid. I watched as my chosen side fell to the realm of software developers, never to compete in the hardware wars again. That's when I became a gaming nomad and have had no dog in the race ever since (RIP Dreamcast).
Watching Microsoft go down the same path - as if following the exact script Sega used - was heartbreaking. Recently, we have seen titles like Gears of War, Forza, and even Halo jump to PlayStation, seemingly signaling the end of our beloved Xbox ecosystem. In my review of Halo Campaign Evolved, I noted that it felt weird playing Halo on a PS5, much like the feeling I had playing Sonic games on a Nintendo console for the first time.
For me, I had all but written off the console I once cherished. I hadn’t renewed my Game Pass Ultimate in nearly a year, as they had upped the price so much since the Activision Blizzard deal that I couldn’t justify paying for it. I had even considered selling my Series X, as I gravitate toward my Switch 2 and PS5 Pro far more nowadays. Things weren’t looking good for my remaining time as an Xbox gamer.
Which brings me to the main reason I was ready to walk away for good: the straw that broke the camel's back. Every gamer who gives up on a console usually has that one franchise - the absolute sacred cow - that keeps them holding on long after everything else has gone downhill. For me, that anchor was Gears of War.
If Xbox was going down, I thought at least I’d get to see my favorite series go out on a high note.
Instead, when they announced Gears of War: E-Day, my heart sank. I didn’t jump on the hype train or get excited like everyone else on my timeline; I didn’t even pay attention. I had already accepted my fate as an ex-Xboxer, and the news just felt like they were about to dump all over the fantastic lore laid out in the expanded universe, all just to squeeze a bit more life out of Marcus and Dom.
We had already been down the prequel road with Gears of War: Judgment, after all. And while Gears 4 and 5 were far from the strongest entries in the franchise, ditching the story moving forward felt like a total cop-out. In my mind, this wasn’t just another mistake in a rough generation for Microsoft. It was the final straw. They were about to ruin Gears (the last remaining reason I had to even turn on my Series X) by rewriting the story that meant so much to long-standing fans.
The game that drew me into the 360 era was Gears of War 2. I went back to play the first one after finishing the campaign in this, but the multiplayer in Gears 2 (especially Horde mode) was a nightly ritual for me and my mates once work was finished. We would jump on and push back the Locust swarms until the early hours of the morning. During those years, there was no Call of Duty or Halo for us: there was only Gears.
I had the books, the comics, the figures, the DLC packs. Gears of War was “my game.” This continued through to the most recent entry, Gears 5, which launched seven years ago. Since then, we have had nothing; the community dwindled, and the ship was abandoned faster than Jacinto City sank.
To be honest, I haven’t really gotten into any multiplayer games since then (besides playing copious amounts of the wonderful Splatoon series over on my Switch). Modern multiplayer just wasn’t for me - COD, Battlefield, Fortnite, Destiny - none of them hit the sweet spot like a good old round of Horde or Versus on Gears.
With that in mind, I planned an article to send off my career playing Xbox into the sunset. While there were many reasons besides those mentioned here, killing off Gears of War was my core argument. So, during my research for the piece, I looked up the status of the novels to see if any were still canon before I put digital pen to paper, or finger to keyboard… You get the idea.
The result that popped up shocked me. Everything changed right there as I read the words on my screen:
The Gears of War novels are NOT decanonized. Developer The Coalition specifically consulted the original author, Karen Traviss, to ensure Gears of War: E-Day aligns with established book and comic lore - even lifting lines, specific scenes, and character moments directly from the written material.
The developers explicitly stated that retconning sucks and that they want to honor the books.
Call it my spiritual rebirth regarding Xbox; call it a revelation, as it's the only way I can describe the sheer joy of reading those words. Instantly, the draft was scrapped, and endorphins were at an all-time high. Seeing the team show real respect for the canon meant they had this locked down. I gave up on Star Wars when Disney scrapped all previous lore outside the movies and the Clone Wars series, so seeing a franchise I was so invested in handled with care was an incredible moment.
Dutifully, I scrambled to open the Xbox app to renew my Game Pass - knowing the Gears of War: E-Day Beta launches this weekend (it has actually already started and turns out you don't need Game Pass to play) - and ordered a new Series controller, as my current one has seen better days thanks to my two-year-old getting her hands on it.
I was back in.
The new Horde Siege mode featured in the multiplayer trailer looked incredible. 12 players on the same map, able to help each other out, was a dream to me back in the Gears 2 days, when we had only 5 of us on small maps with our backs against the wall.
After trying out the E-Day Beta, everything I wanted was there. Almost open-world maps, ongoing events that made it feel like a real war, other teams battling the Locust, and the new movement is phenomenal. I will say, though, sliding around as Marcus feels really weird.
Does this mean Xbox is saved and back on track? Should we all reconsider our thoughts about the generation so far? Absolutely not. For me, this is pure excitement and hype for a developer handling a property with care, rather than a declaration that Xbox as a platform has turned the corner.
We have all seen Asha come in and make some tough decisions while saying all the right things that fans want to hear. But will this last, or is she just set up to be the last CEO of Xbox as they sunset into Microsoft Gaming, exiting the console war for good? Time will tell.
For this lapsed fan, however, Gears of War: E-Day was the title that ended the Xbox drought and brought me back into the flock. While I hope Xbox stays around as a true competitor to PlayStation, there are way more problems to fix over there before it’s smooth sailing again.
I hope Xbox gets back on track; I really do. Whether that happens or if they face the same inevitable fate as Sega, one thing is for sure - Gears of War is ticking a lot of the right boxes right now, and I am glad to have woken up just in time to see it.
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