The Coalition On Why It Didn't Do A Gears of War Collection

Today at a panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Gears of War developer The Coalition revealed that it was resources and time kept them from doing a full remaster of the entire Gears of War series. The studio is developing Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, but opted to stop at the first game instead of remaking the series like Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

When asked why the studio is only remaking the first Gears of War game, a team member responded by saying it was difficult enough doing a single remaster. He said that the studio isn't big enough or well-versed enough in developing a Gears game to take on a remake of the entire series. "It's really hard work [to remaster an entire series]," he explained "It takes a long time. It took us in the end 16-18 months to do the first one, and to try and do three games... How many people would we need to have? It just wasn't logistically or physically or technically possible. For us it was really about what can we do, what can we focus on."

"We had a brand new studio which had never made a Gears game before, and having to go in and remaster--because we went right down to the studs of this thing--meant that everyone had to learn what it takes to make a Gears of War game. It was sort of this on-ramp to the franchise to get ready for Gears of War 4."

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/why.../1100-6428777/

Personally, I think that is a very refreshingly honest answer- it's a new development team, that didn't have the resources, so it stuck to not biting off more than it could chew.

That, plus the amount of work that has evidently gone into this remaster means that I can't exactly continue to complain about this like I used to.

"We would've made a broken product like the MCC if we attempted it"

I don't see why they didn't remaster the first one and just throw the 2nd and 3rd on there straight from the 360. Halo:MCC just remastered #2 and ported the other games from the 360.

Sounds about right. Look at how the MCC wound up. 343 wasn't enough to take on all of it, so they hired a bunch of other studios. Didn't end up brilliantly.

Having said that, I don't care for just one game like that. I played the beta, and while I dig the Gears 3 mechanics, it's not enough for me to drop 40 on it.

Rare Replay is where it's at. So many games in there I haven't played, and I'm glad I'm gonna be able to check those out for the ridiculously cheap price.

Good.

Less remasters/collections is always a good thing.

I knew devs will hit a wall with remasters and hd collection.

The time they spend is reaching AAA levels of developing , so i hope they end it this gen sooner then later.

"It's really hard work [to remaster an entire series]," he explained "It takes a long time".

Quit whining and get on with it you lazy SOB. Worst excuse I've ever heard. I'm not going to remaster all 3 because it sounds too much like work. ffs.

Hmm I just figured Microsoft didn't want Gears 2 and 3 on PC which would give signs that 4 is likely to also to come and stagnate XB1 sales.

And conveniently for them it goes without saying that they can charge $160 for four $40 remakes instead of $60 for one consumer-convenient collection. Not saying that's entirely why, just a happy side effect of their original reasons. If they really are a small team without the resources IMO they shouldn't be doing a remaster period, they should have 100% of their resources on the next Gears game. Instead, outsource the project to a third party that can handle it.

And that does for every other game doing the remaster / modern HD port or just next gen collection of their games. I'm surprised publishers let their talented studios waste time with this, and how it hasn't become a publishing standard to outsource this kind of work to other studios so their top studios can work on new games. I mean, take Silicon Knights for instance, couldn't finish games to save their life, but when it came to remaking something like MGS1 with a little assistance they were actually able to do okay. After all, they were just porting and enhancing a game that was already done. They didn't have to waste resources doing writing, motion capture, or designing the game itself from the ground up, they're simply porting, doing a little voice work, adding a first person perspective, nothing major. Any no talent assclowns can do that, so save the HD port / remasters / collections to studios like that.

I thought that at first but I think we're close enough to the release of 4 now they'll just completely skip the others which actually quite stupid. Zero incentive for people who never played Gears to go straight from 1 to 4. People hate feeling they're missing out on something.

This game existed on PC and it took 18-months to port? Likely...

Yeah I remember Rod saying something similar during the E3 interviews. Makes sense, especially since this is more than just a small cash in via minor visual upgrades. Good stuff.....only thing I would say, as some people have pointed out, is that it would have been cool if they were able to add horde on there, but I'm still getting it on day 1, had a great time with the beta.

Smart answer really, but it's still shitty we're getting a remaster of a game that already came out on PC.

It's absolutely hilarious to see Cliffy trying to cater to the PC crowd now for his new arena shooter after all the shit he said about the platform before.

Here's the real reason... Money!

Cause MS already has one series with an utterly destroyed reputation this gen, can't have two.

Which series is that? Can't wait for Halo 5 and I don't think any other Halo fan will think differently.

Mhm you guessed the series; of course the diehard Halo fanboys are gonna just accept it, non-fanboys are wiser at least.

That's fair enough isn't it? People like me who love Halo will buy Halo 5. People who don't like Halo won't. No problem there that I can see. I'll ignore your puerile 'fanboy' drivel.

Whatever helps you sleep

Man that name makes me so mad every time I see it lol.

How do you go from quite possibly the coolest sounding studio name, and coolest logo/branding ever, to some generic shit like "The Coalition"?

It sounds really dodgy doesn't it? In political terms it's a recipe for disaster every single time without fail yet they thought it somehow sounded 'cool'. Weirdness. And yet with all their combined might they struggled to do one remaster lol.

A gears of war collection would be more reasons to buy an Xbone and they failed me. There are many third party studios that could have worked on it for at least 2 to 3 years and get it done by 2016 just before gears 4. Big mistake imo. Also the X360 is an easy machine to develop and port from no? This isn't Teh cell. Very disappointed.

Why didn't anyone answer the logical follow-up question: why did you choose to remaster the first and not the third?

The answer is clear to me, because I'm not an idiot. I know that the only fucking good one was the first. Hopefully they realize that too and crib heavily from it while developing the fourth.

They've shot themselves in the foot a bit because most people were expecting a Gears collection after MCC. Ditto GoW 3. Both franchises look almost inconsequential this gen because they got their remasters 'wrong' lol the irony.

I wanted the trilogy more than just the first one..again.

Yeah I don't mind... Gears 1 is the one I want to replay most.

I'll gladly take the first one at a reasonable price after playing the beta. Gives me a Gear fix until Gears 4.

The second one had Horde Mode, though...

You can always play it with BC on the One, Xbox Forever!

It makes sense and is totally understandable. Still not sure if that means I want to buy it. I'm sure I'd have fun playing with my roommates.

It's not even the same studio that's doing Gears 4 that's doing this remake, so don't hate on them. Besides if it took them 16-18 months then they could've made the whole trilogy but it'd came out Q4 2016, and it'd clash with projected Gears 4 release. Ideally they should offer 2,3, and judgement as digital 360 copies in this edition but I'm sure by the time BC officially premieres they'll have added Gears 2 and thus the entire saga would've been there and it someone was downloading games regularly from there, they'd have them all anyway.

True, but it would of been nice to see updated graphics and enhancements. I may just gamefly this game though, no real hurry to play it.