Gears of War: E-Day Director Laid Off Days After Going Gold
Gears of War: E-Day's story director Juan Vaca was laid off in Xbox's latest round of cuts, just days after the game went gold. Over 260 people were affected, and more cuts are coming.
How would you feel if you just wrapped up years of work on a huge game, only to lose your job days before launch? That's the reality for Juan Vaca, story director on Gears of War: E-Day.
The game officially went gold several days ago, meaning it's ready for its October 6 launch. But in a cruel twist, Vaca was caught up in Xbox's latest "reset" layoffs. After posting about the game hitting its milestone, he revealed he was one of over 260 people impacted by job cuts at Xbox.
"I am part of this round of Microsoft Layoffs and am open to new opportunities in games/film/TV," Vaca wrote on LinkedIn. "If your team needs a director/storyteller please reach out."
Vaca spent over four years at The Coalition, the studio behind Gears of War: E-Day. Before that, he interned at Marvel Studios, worked as a narrative designer at Telltale Games, and spent three years at Netflix on several series. His resume is stacked, and now he's looking for a new role.
This week's layoffs are part of Xbox's continued reorganization, with studios consolidating under Activision Blizzard, Bethesda, and King. The cuts hit first-party developers, management, and central functions teams at Xbox Game Studios. They follow 1,600 redundancies back in July, and they're not over yet. Xbox boss Matt Booty says Microsoft is only three-quarters of the way done, with Blizzard expected to face cuts next.
Another high-profile casualty: Halo Studios' cinematic director Josh Daniels, who was laid off just a day after receiving a promotion. Halo Studios has been heavily impacted, leaving a small team to support current games and the community. The next Halo game will be developed by a new team at Activision.
Despite the layoffs, Gears of War: E-Day is still set to launch on October 6. It's a bittersweet moment for fans, knowing that someone who poured so much into the story won't be there to see it release. What do you think about these layoffs? Will you still be picking up E-Day?
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