[bogwog]

That's not true. Hardware gives them the ability to create a monopoly on game publishing/distribution, which is why console games have always been so expensive. The platform holder can charge high fees to developers and demand high prices from consumers. That's nothing unique to the game industry.

Microsoft has said they're trying to focus more on software, but that focus is on gamepass not games themselves. They want that monopolized platform without the burden of having to sell Xboxes (which consumers have rejected time and time again), which obviously would be very lucrative for them. It's why they've been throwing so much money at devs to entice them to put their games on gamepass, and why they spent such a ludicrous amount of money on Activision despite the Xbox business being such a dud. They believe games are destined to become like video streaming industry, and want to be the Netflix for games.

Now I'm talking out of my ass here, but I think there might be some kind of internal metric at Microsoft that rewards execs that chase monopolization. It's either that, or they're really so incompetent over there that nobody has noticed how bad Xbox leadership is at their jobs. The peak of Xbox success was the 360, and I think that was mostly because Sony got the pricing completely wrong for the PS3 at launch (and even then, lifetime sales of PS3 surpassed the 360)

[jarsin]

360 + Gears of War was the best time in gaming.

Look what they have done to Gears as well. Nobody even knows or hears anything about it anymore.

[bogwog]

Gears 5 came out around 5 years ago. Considering the series has consistently rated very well, I doubt they killed it. They're probably just doing the modern AAA thing of spending a decade and a half working on a bloated game with unlimited budget. I bet we'll see one of those logo drops for Gears 6 soon (next showcase is in June), the game will release in a buggy/broken state with a flawless in-game store, the studio will get shut down, and then they'll announce the new Elder Scrolls game while everyone is pissed.

[Xirgil]

Microsoft didn't kill Gears of War out of ineptitude or malice. It's just that consumers don't want to play cover shooters anymore. There's no market for the game's core identity. People's tastes have swung hard in the opposite direction, they want movement shooters.