Gears of War Collection to PlayStation 5 is The Biggest Cross-Platform Move

There have been long-standing rumors that the Gears of War Collection would finally come to PlayStation 5. New leaks suggest that it might be officially announced at the Xbox Games Showcase in June. Notably, the collection is said to include campaign co-op but not the franchise's famous PvP multiplayer, which is already causing a lot of debate in the gaming community.

The leak comes from an insider known as "Exas 1S." This person recently said again that the Gears of War Collection will come out on PS5, PC, and Xbox at the same time. If this is true, it would be a big change in Microsoft's cross-platform strategy since Gears of War has always been one of their most popular Xbox-only games.

Window Central's Jez Corden added more information to back up this claim and confirmed that the bundle will focus on co-op campaign experiences rather than online competitive play. It looks like Microsoft is making a strategic move by moving away from PvP.

Some guesses have been made because there is no PvP. The main idea? Microsoft doesn't want to split up its Gears players before the next big game in the series, Gears of War: E-Day, comes out, which is rumored to be sometime in 2026.

If Microsoft releases a Gears Collection that is ready for PvP, it could take away from the multiplayer audience they want to bring to E-Day, which many people expect to follow the trend of adding live service elements. As seen with Call of Duty and Halo Infinite, these games often depend on strong and ongoing multiplayer ecosystems to keep people playing and, more importantly, make money.

That is, the Gears Collection is probably being marketed as a nostalgic, stand-alone experience. Microsoft keeps fans' attention on future projects like E-Day by not including competitive modes. These projects will almost certainly offer a live-service model with ongoing content, cosmetics, and ways to make money.

This is also the reason Sony hasn't rushed to bring back old multiplayer series like Killzone. Big publishers no longer see a reason to support old-school multiplayer games that don't offer regular ways to make money. The goal now is to keep players and make money, and classic PvP doesn't quite fit that mold. Microsoft hasn't officially confirmed what's in the collection, but it's said to have better versions of Gears of War, Gears 2, and Gears 3 with full campaign co-op and better graphics.

Since modern remasters set the standard for prices, it's not crazy to think that the Gears Collection will cost $60–$70 when it comes out. This is especially true since Sony charged full price for The Last of Us Part I, which was just one game without its own multiplayer mode. Fans would probably be okay with the price if the remasters are well done, given Gears' history and value.

People think that co-op is especially important. Gears has always stressed cooperative play, and leaving it out would have been a big mistake. Microsoft is willing to bring old games to new platforms, but multiplayer seems to be a feature that is only available in newer games and can adapt to changing ways of making money.

According to people who know, this may also be the plan if Halo: The Master Chief Collection ever comes to PlayStation. If it does, you can expect a campaign-only experience with no multiplayer. This is in line with Microsoft's new strategy, which is to sell nostalgia once and then point people toward the future.

Even though nothing is official yet, August is being discussed as a likely month for the Gears Collection's release. That would make sense—it's still a long way before the busy fall season with games like Avowed, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. If the Gears package came out in late summer, it would have time to breathe, and new PlayStation users might want to check out the series before E-Day.

When we talk about Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, the game is coming out this week on PS5, but collectors and people who like physical media will be let down. According to the account Does It Play, which keeps an eye on preservation, the disc version of the game only has 20GB of data on it. This means that you have to download the whole thing in order to play it.

Critics often call this "disc fraud," and it's becoming increasingly common. It's part of a larger trend away from real physical ownership. The idea is similar to what Nintendo is doing with the upcoming Switch 2 with "game key cards." In this case, the cart acts as a license key instead of holding the actual game data.

People will still be able to sell the Indiana Jones disc, but the fact that it needs to be connected to the internet and have a download infrastructure has raised concerns among people who work to protect video games. In the end, these games might not be playable in the future if servers go down or platforms change.

It used to be that games like Cyberpunk 2077 for Switch came on a 64GB cartridge that held everything. These days, that's a rare case. Other games that people are looking forward to, like Bravely Default HD Remaster and Street Fighter 6, are going the key card route. This is especially annoying for people who collect JRPGs, which usually become very valuable over time, especially on Nintendo handheld systems.

Publishers are pushing players toward digital ecosystems. The push is clear since the PS5 and Xbox Series S already come in digital-only versions, and the PS5 Pro is said to be coming out as well. Digital games not only help businesses make more money, but they also keep users locked into specific platforms, making it less likely that they will switch brands. When you spend more money on a digital library, it gets harder to leave. This is an example of the sunk-cost fallacy, and it works as it should.

Things are changing quickly in the gaming world. Digital is eating up physical, legacy franchises are crossing platform lines, and publishers are putting long-term engagement over traditional ownership. You can play Gears of War Collection with up to four people on PlayStation, but there will be no multiplayer. This is a big deal for the franchise and for Xbox's future publishing plans. Microsoft plans to take a long time. And it looks like live-service rules that game.