Juan Vaca, the story director on Gears of War: E-Day, says he was laid off in Microsoft’s latest round of Xbox cuts, just days after marking a development milestone for the game. Kotaku reports that Vaca posted on September 22 that he was part of the layoffs and was looking for new work in games, film or television.
The timing is unusually stark. On September 17, Vaca posted that E-Day had gone gold and said he was excited for players to see what the team had been making. “Gone gold” generally means a game’s development build is complete enough to enter disc production. Kotaku describes the game as scheduled for an October 6 launch.
Vaca joined The Coalition in 2022, according to the report. His LinkedIn profile described work guiding narrative teams and cross-discipline groups through building a story from concept to execution, which is why his departure lands as more than a routine staffing change for a game near release. Kotaku published its report on September 22.
The layoff was part of broader changes announced by Xbox on September 22. Kotaku says the company confirmed that more than 260 employees were affected across the organization as its corporate “reset” continued. The report does not give a precise count for The Coalition, so it is not clear how many other people at the studio were affected.
Kotaku also cites a source familiar with the matter who said fewer than a handful of Coalition employees were cut for reasons unrelated to the wider restructuring and that E-Day’s launch plans had not changed. That is not an official Xbox or Coalition statement; Kotaku said it had contacted Xbox for more information. For now, the public information supports a narrower conclusion: Vaca’s departure came immediately after he celebrated a major production milestone, while the game remains scheduled for release.
