Gears Of War: E-Day Trailer Was Done Entirely In-Engine

Microsoft and The Coalition unveiled Gears of War: E-Day over the weekend, and already there is a bit of controversy regarding the game's debut trailer. Surprisingly, it's not about the series going back into the past rather than continuing from the cliffhanger ending of Gears 5, either.

Instead, Blizzard developer Jamir Blanco took issue on X (formerly known as Twitter) with a social media post by Summer Game Fest founder Geoff Keighley. The Gears of War: E-Day trailer--seen below--sees a young Marcus Fenix fighting off a Locust drone. Keighley said the video was "CG from Blur Studio," a description that Blanco believes "diminishes all the technical achievements you probably didn't notice from how good it was." Blanco added that the teaser was "FULL REALTIME."

For its part, The Coalition stated that the debut trailer for Gears of War: E-Day was in-engine. The video starts with "in-engine footage" text showing up at the bottom of the screen, and the developer expanded on this on Xbox Wire. This reveal trailer "is honoring the legacy" of the original Gears of War "Mad World" trailer, according to The Coalition, which was "rendered entirely in-engine." It's noted this was "a rarity at a time when the chasm between cinematic trailers and actual game graphics was notably wide."

Subsequently, a spokesperson from The Coalition told GameSpot, "The Gears of War: E-Day trailer was made in collaboration across The Coalition, Blur Studios and GNet developed using in-game models, textures and environments--all captured in Unreal Engine 5. It was not captured in real time as some have suggested."

It's worth noting that in-engine cinematics don't necessarily reflect gameplay. We'll have to wait and see how close The Coalition got as we get closer to release.

Gears of War: E-Day is built with Unreal Engine 5 and takes place 14 years before the original game in the franchise. There is no release window for the prequel yet.