That’s not how Gears is valued by Microsoft if I had to guess, I think the only metric (or the most important metric) that MS cares about is population and/or Gamepass numbers, so if Gears 5 is attributable to say 5% of Gamepass subscriptions they likely consider it a success, I’m aware that its impossible to ascertain the influence of Gears 5 on Gamepass subscriptions but I’m sure Microsoft has methods.
That doesn’t make any sense though, like a Fallout New Vegas 2 would give them far more bang for their buck than Gears 6 would, nevermind possibility of spinoffs/tie-ins that could be ginormous if they’re lucky.
As good as Gears is I suspect its value as an IP is extremely low, you can blame TC for everything under the sun but a cover based shooter with an extremely toxic community and low popularity isn’t what I would call a high priority for them.
Imagine playing a Fallout game and at some point you see Emergence Holes appear with Locust popping out of them, would probably make more sense to simply reuse assets then to spend 3 or more years making another title that is just going to be less popular than last.
Gears 5 is #41 on xbox live charts in terms of popularity, although it does rise dramatically at the start of operations (at start of Operation 4 it was #14 or something IIRC) I just have doubt that this is worthwhile for Microsoft, There’s a difference between decline and falling off a cliff. Although Microsoft may very well keep the studio (they’ll change their names again of course) I have my doubts that you’ll see Gears 11 or something lol.
Edit: They will 100% make a Gears 6, but I highly doubt they’ll bother after that, unless you think a Gears Tactics 2 is in order 