The Coalition Announce End of Gears Esports Program

Gears Esports competition will be coming to a close once its ongoing 2021-22 season ends in June, The Coalition announced Tuesday.

As stated in their program update dev blog, the move was inspired by The Coalition seeking to shift their focus to future projects.

"After several years of Gears Esports action," The Coalition's announcement reads, "we have announced that 2021/22 will be the final season for Gears Esports as we shift our focus to future projects.

"This marks the culmination of Gears Esports competition across multiple titles with thousands of players competing in hundreds of events across the world."

Gears of War esports has been long-established in the history of console gaming, having been around since 2007 with a community dedicated to competing in MLG events from the series' first title.

Since 2019, the scene has been competing on Gears 5 under Microsoft and The Coalition's Gears Esports banner, remaining to see plenty of support in North America across the United States and Mexico.

A few months into the start of the Gears Esports era, however, the COVID-19 pandemic saw the league have its 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons being played entirely online.

Although several other esports have since returned to in-person competition in some form, Gears Esports' Mexico City Major in March 2020 is set to remain as the scene's last LAN event perhaps ever.

"While the global pandemic cut short our plans for live events," The Coalition's announcement reads, "we’re proud that through the support of our community and partners we’ve been able to successfully continue the program throughout that time."

For now, Gears Pro League 2021-22 Split 3 journeys on, featuring the likes of Knights, Rise, Pioneers and eUnited, with the Spring and Summer Majors lying in wait.

Lastly, The Coalition also mentioned that they are "working hard on the future of Gears," but "won’t be talking about that anytime soon."

Rebel CEO Glenn "iiNK" McCollum has since replied to the announcement on Twitter to say that there could still be hope for Gears of War esports in the future.

"This has happened before in the past," iiNK tweeted. "They made a comeback and if this community sticks together it can always comeback again. If this is truly the end I am proud to have had a chance to be a part of this community for many years."