The Coalition studio head Mike Crump has stated that the studio is concentrating on what it can control amidst ongoing corporate restructuring at Xbox, which has included significant layoffs across various studios. While promoting the recently released Gears of War: E-Day, Crump addressed concerns about potential future job cuts at The Coalition, following a report from Eurogamer.
In an interview with the BBC, Crump deflected direct questions about the studio's future employment status. Instead, he reiterated the team's focus on delivering a high-quality game that players will enjoy. "What I say to myself, what I say to the team, is we just need to focus on the things that we can control," Crump stated. "For us that’s about shipping a great game that people are going to love, and I feel like, as a team, we’ve done that."
Crump highlighted Gears of War: E-Day as a strong foundation for future installments in the franchise. He also explicitly promised that the next game in the series will have a significantly shorter development cycle. "the next game will not take nearly as long" to create, he told the BBC.
He also alluded to the value of the studio's long-standing team, suggesting that layoffs could disrupt decades of accumulated experience. "We’ve got a great team here. And the leadership team in particular has worked together for upwards of 20 years," Crump said. "So there’s definitely a continuity of knowledge and experience."
While The Coalition has largely been unaffected by Xbox's recent widespread layoffs, the game's story director and other employees were reportedly let go last month, as previously reported by Kotaku.