Gears of War: E-Day may be a prequel, but it doesn’t mean the developers have forgotten about Gears 5

The announcement of a new Gears of War game, titled Gears of War: E-Day, was easily one of the highlights of the recent Xbox Games Showcase. It’s status as a prequel, however, means fans are still left wanting for a follow-up to Gears 5‘s storyline, but it sounds like Microsoft and The Coalition haven’t ruled out a new sequel for later done the line.

In an Xbox Wire blog post discussing Gears of War: E-Day, series brand director Nicole Fawcette assures that the team at The Coalition are “super proud about Gears 4 and Gears 5” and are “not retreating from that storyline in any way.” As for why The Coalition has opted to do a prequel next rather than a Gears 6, Fawcette only says, “In [this] moment, we had an opportunity to write our next step, and this one just felt too good to miss.”

Set 14 years before the events of the first Gears of War game, E-Day will depict the Locust’s first attack on humanity, and serve as an origin story of sorts for protagonists Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago. As such, Microsoft insists that E-Day isn’t a spin-off, but a full-fledged entry in the Gears of War series, saying, “Everything that happens in E-Day will shape the future of Gears of War for the better.”

With any luck, this means Gears 6 will happen eventually and continue the storyline that began with Gears 4. Maybe E-Day will even set up a few plot points for it? It’s just a shame that the wait for it is going to be even longer than expected. Gears 5 came out in 2019 and with E-Day lacking a release window, there’s no telling when any hypothetical Gears 6 will launch and resolve Gears 5‘s cliffhanger ending. Especially with how long development times for big-budget games are nowadays. Even so, E-Day has got fans excited, if only to experience a new Gears of War on modern hardware, and spend time with Marcus and Dom once more.