Microsoft announced a fifth Gears of War game on its E3 2018 stage, but it's not called Gears of War 5. Microsoft announced the title as Gears 5, and that was no mistake. Speaking to GameSpot, Xbox marketing boss Aaron Greenberg said the Gears 5 title is "cleaner," not to mention that people were already cutting out the "of War" part of the title for years already, so it was a natural change.
"People shorthanded it Gears anyway," Greenberg said. "It's a cleaner look for the brand and the line. Of course, the franchise is still Gears of War."
Greenberg also joked that Microsoft dropped "of War" from the title of the game to help save people time when posting about the game on social media. "To save you room on Twitter; that was the whole idea," Greenberg said with a laugh.
Gears 5 is the first entry in the series with a female playable lead. The game tells the story of Kait Diaz, who was first introduced in Gears of War 4 and whose character arc culminated with a dramatic conclusion in that left many wondering what would happen next.
GameSpot's full interview with Greenberg covers a number of other Xbox topics such as the Halo Infinite reveal, what's next for PUBG on Xbox, and a lot more. You can watch the full interview in the video embed above.
It's not just Gears 5 that dropped "Of War" from its title. The other two Gears of War games announced at E3, Gears Tactics and Gears Pop, also don't have "Of War" in their titles. Gears 5 launches in 2019 on Xbox One and PC; keep checking back with GameSpot for m ore.