Will Operation 6 be the LAST *real* Operation for G5? (speculation)

Gears 5
#1

Basically, what the title says…Do you think Operation 6 will be the last real operation for Gears 5?

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We know that dev support for G5 has been on the decline. We also no that there’s no major updates, major tuning changes, escape tiles, or campaign DLC coming. We’ve even seen them shift PvE to be sorta on “auto-pilot” for a lack of better words. So, what does that leave us for in terms of operations?

All I see us having left are cosmetics (skins/marks,etc) and maps. Hopefully we’ll continue to see those get support through Sept/Oct (the 2-year mark). But is an “operation” really necessary for that? Perhaps they’ll shift to a once-a-month release, or something like that.

  • People have complained that operations are too long
  • No more operations reduces marketing costs
  • No more operations is an excuse QA costs due to less feature/bug fixes
  • No more operations removes costs associated with updating the ToD

There really isn’t much left. Perhaps now is the time to shift away from operations.

I would still suspect that we’ll get skins and maps coming in…they just won’t be grouped together into larger operations. We’ll see more small drops rather than less frequent larger drops.

I have some questions around how the ToD and store would work if Op6 truly is the last real operation…and I don’t really know if it really is. It all just seems to indicate that when I read between the lines.

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Last night’s dev stream had a few comments that I clipped out that seem to support this, so I made a video discussing it: (clips are within the first min or so)


…but most of the points I make in that video are in this thread, so no need to watch unless you wanna see the stream clips
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#2

I see maybe that OP7 will probably be the last one before Gears 6

#3

Certainly won’t be seeing Gears 6 until 2022 for sure, the minimum. I can see it going to Ops 8

#4

That was my original thought.
But based on their comments last night, I’m starting to suspect that Op6 may actually be the end.

#5

Well after 5 and 4’s TOD, there hasn’t been anything I have cared for in terms of unlocks.

Unless 6’s has a better version, I would hope they scrap it and release content through the store.

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#6

I guess 1 thing I forgot to mention is…

If Op6 isn’t the last one…and I’m reading this completely wrong, then…
What would be your speculation around what Dana was saying last night?

#7

Sorry man, I don’t and have never watched a dev stream before. If you think this is the last (if not one more OPs) then I will have to take your word for it.

#8

No, I wasn’t saying you’re wrong…and I honestly don’t know if I’m right.
From 0:26 to 1:42 is where dana says stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSXlIkBNvuM

If not watching, then basically it’s a:

  • We’re changing stuff with how operations work
  • We can’t comment on if Op6 is “bigger” than other ops
    • We can’t comment, because it’s complicated
    • Once you understand the changes, you’ll understand why we can’t tell you now

To me, that hints that Op6 will be the last one. But then again, that could just be confirmation bias kicking in…

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#9

Yes I believe it is. Though I wish they would big bang the last of their content and focus on gears 6…so we don’t have a gears 5 launch again.

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#10

I mean, most of the team is on G6 already, right?
But I get it,the more people on G6,tthe better

That said, I feel a large part of G5’s failure was due to a failure of proper planning and management rather than purely resources.

#11

Ooooohhhhhh its tough one to call. He does say “stuff going on with operations” so by that alone I am lead to believe there will be more than 1 operation coming our way but that could just be the way he talks lol. I would be of the opinion that there are going to be at least 2 more ops but who knows considering how far we are into the games life cycle.

Perhaps they are redesigning the operations. Honestly its just not enough info for me to go on but the speculation could be right.

#12

Considering gears of war 6 (if there is one) would be at least a year away (more like two probably) they’ll be a lot more content on this gears for sure

Mainly as said though, maps, characters and skins of which we still need a lot more of to fill this game out.

I’d say they’ll be around 10 operations unless they’ve been doing something on the sly but I doubt it. Gears games take a damn while to make and certainly to get right, gears 5 was released too early so I’ll happily wait.

#13

It is entirely reasonable to assume that they would redesign the whole system with such a statement. I would think it is possible seeing as there have also been complaints about the fact that the only really “significant” major content drops(if you also count new characters n stuff as such, that is) happened at their start and then it was back to the same old drip feeding of the store with nothing else except the occasional event coming in.

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#14

I do feel they’d benefit from mid op stuff like a map or two. If it means the initial op is smaller that’s fine by me cos it ain’t half a long wait for content after the initial buzz has gone.

#15

I would feel very short-changed if 6 is the last one.

Gears is one of MS “big 3” and should be treated with respect and reverence.

I feel Op 5 was the best one so far, not perfect but overall very good but we need TC to STOP with the constant messing with the tuning, this seems to be a habitual problem with TC.

I think it is such a shame that the first 12 odd months of both Gears 4 and 5 were spent rectifying what was wrong.
I also find it pretty incredulous that 5 shipped like it did. Point being I feel we are only just starting to see the real Gears 5 and need further operations to continue that.

As for Gears 6, and I have to admit to be very nervous about us actually getting it but assuming we do, it is unlikely until 2022/23. So 5 should be a long way from “done”

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#16

Remember that operations probably aren’t going to continue all the way out until G6’s launch.
The longest I could see TC continuing to put stuff out for this would be the end of the year.

I feel it’s more likely that they’ll stop supporting it at the ~2 year mark.

As for my prediction, it was predicting Op6 as being the last one…but it would be getting a bunch of updates (maybe monthly)…so while Ops would stuff, the content flow wouldn’t.

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All of that said, Dana has seemingly confirmed on twitter that Op6 will NOT be the last one.

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#17

Understood about not continuing until Gears 6 (do you think we will get one, if so do you believe it will be several years away and by TC?) but I would hope we get at least 2 more, up u til the 2 year anniversary for example.

Good thought provoking thread mate, I would expect no less from you :+1:

#18

As for the Operations.
I did think the “Gears 2” operation was a great idea. Would love a 3 and J themed ones. But with maps from 3 like Artillery , Cove and Depths. And for J maybe Boneyard, Streets and Lost City ?
Also plenty of characters from those we have not got yet :+1:

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#19

The beautiful thing about gears is that there’s so much lore it’s untrue

Also one reason why people get very annoying with a low content gears :rofl:

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#20

TL/DR:
Yes, I think there will be a Gears 6 developed by TC - probably Fall of 2022.

Keep reading for the “fun stuff”
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I certainly expect us to see a G6. The Gears story isn’t finished yet. Personally I’d like to see them wrap up G6 and the current story, and then take some time away from the main games and work on spin-offs.

And yes, I do believe it will be made by TC. They’re the studio best equipped to handle it. They have years of experience now, and any other studio would basically need to start from scratch.

Some say that TC isn’t talented enough or not deserving of Gears. I don’t believe that’s a fair statement. I do believe their management had issues with priorities and scheduling, but that’s not reflective of the “real workers” at the studio. Under the proper management, it could be great. And I guess it’s worth noting that Gears’ management has changed over the past couple of years. It’s not like they instantly have my trust, they still need to earn that back. But I wouldn’t discount them completely.

Halo is launching this year, so clearly TC won’t put out G6 then. Fall 2022 is the next major window, and is probably what MS is pushing for.
Some say that Gears needs a 4 year cycle rather than 3. To quote something from a reddit conversation I had…

I blame it more on TC’s time management and vision.

Starting with the vision, there were many things that just fell flat. Class locks, the store, tuning, player progression. Sure, some of those may have seen slight improvements if the launch had been later…but most of that was due to the direction the studio wanted to take things.

The other part is time management. The game launched with some pretty serious bugs. TC clearly didn’t plan for enough time to QA the game properly and ensure that the bugs were fixed. I suspect that if the game had an extra year of development, they would have spent most of that year trying to add more content and features. They didn’t plan properly for polishing the game. I have no reason to suspect that this would have changed much if they had been given more time.

Remember, the only reason G3’s extra time allowed them the ability to polish more is because that time was added after they had scoped/developed most of the game. That meant that most extra time was allowed for polishing.

So, if they had gone in with an extended timeframe, sure, we would have had a game with “more content”, but the content would be just as buggy IMO.

The only thing that could have “saved” them would have been to delay the game near the end of development in order for them to finish things up properly.
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I dislike seeing people say that Gears 5 was a 3-year game, and should have been 4…so hopefully TC is planning for 4 years for G6. I really don’t feel that granting an extra year up-front will really help them all that much. Perhaps the new management will help and perhaps their learnings form G5 will help. Granting an extra year won’t magically help though. That doesn’t fix the underlying issue.

But alas…a company being willing to take a hit on their metrics because they need to delay a game? That extra time will surely help…and I really wish that TC/MS had been willing to do that for G5.

So, with that in mind, my “ideal” would be one of 2 situations:

  1. TC is planning for a Fall 2022 Release…but realize they won’t meet their mark, so they delay ~6-12 months.
    This is the “ideal” to me. They scope their project for 3 years, but have 4 to work on it. Once the deadline is extended, they have a bit of extra time. Scope may creep a bit…but they’ll have a TON of time to polish the game.
  2. TC is planning for a Fall 2022 Release…and their new management actually allocated time properly.
    This is obviously the “goal” for any studio, and it would be great if it were to come true.

I have no stake in it financially though, so my preference would be to play it safe with Option 1.

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