Gears of War: E-Day Story Director Let Go Days After Game’s Gold Announcement

Juan Vaca, the story director for the upcoming Gears of War: E-Day, is among the many employees affected by the latest round of layoffs at Xbox. Tragically, Vaca’s job loss came just days after he celebrated the milestone of the game going gold.

On September 22, Xbox announced additional layoffs and studio restructuring as part of its ongoing corporate “reset.” This includes the transition of Halo under Activision and the consolidation of the Forza teams into a single studio. Over 260 employees were let go on Tuesday, following significant layoffs in July. Vaca confirmed his layoff on social media.

“I am part of this round of Microsoft layoffs and am open to new opportunities in games/film/TV,” Vaca shared on LinkedIn and BlueSky. “If your team needs a director/storyteller please reach out.”

Vaca joined the studio in 2022, where he played a key role in guiding narrative teams and cross-discipline groups through the storytelling process from concept to execution. The exact number of other layoffs at The Coalition during this latest round remains unclear.

What makes this situation even more disheartening is that just four days prior, on September 17, Vaca announced on social media that Gears of War: E-Day had gone gold, indicating that development was complete and the game is set to launch on October 6.

“Gears of War: E-Day has gone Gold,” Vaca posted on LinkedIn. “Excited for the world to see what the whole team’s been cooking.”