In the recent development of Gears of War 6 rumors, an industry insider said that the upcoming, hotly-anticipated title will be an open-world game, although it won’t be a full-blown-out experience. 

According to Nick “Shpeshal Nick” Baker, Gears 6 is a little bit further along in development than some might think and there is a strong possibility that it may be a full open-world game.

Baker claimed on the XboxEra podcast, saying that he had heard from his sources that Gears 6 would be “more open than 5” and that it would “further evolve what 5 started.”

Though, he later clarified that he did not mean that the game would be a full open-world, but rather that it would have more open-ended levels than previous Gears games.

I did clarify further that I heard it would be more open than 5. Like further evolving what 5 started. As opposed to it “being open world” https://t.co/VaspmWzD4i

— Nick ? (@Shpeshal_Nick) August 27, 2023

That means this rumor is in line with previous reports that have suggested that Gears 6 would be a more ambitious game than its predecessors. In 2021, it was reported that The Coalition had switched to Unreal Engine 5 for the development of Gears 6, which would allow for larger and more detailed environments.

The previous Gears games have all been linear, with players following a set path through the story. However, the success of open-world games like Halo Infinite and Horizon Forbidden West has shown that there is a demand for this type of gameplay in the Xbox ecosystem.

Gears of War 6 is currently in development and is coming to Windows desktops and Xbox consoles.