People Can Fly has finally confirmed the identity of Project Maverick.
As reported by XboxEra, the Polish game developer has revealed that Project Maverick is actually The Coalition’s Gears of War: E-Day. They made this reveal in their investor site, in the “About Us” section. People Can Fly announced their work on Project Maverick in June 2023, calling it a project in collaboration with Microsoft with a budget of roughly 30 to 50 million dollars. We reported on the sudden rush for job openings for the title in October of that same year.
Of course, Microsoft didn’t reveal Gears of War: E-Day until last year’s Xbox Games Showcase. So it wouldn’t have been possible for People Can Fly to reveal what this project was. Interestingly, a rumor came up that The Coalition had been working on this game since 2020. That means that People Can Fly was brought in at the tail end of development, to help speed up those last phases and get it out on time.
If that rumor is true, the timing could not have been better for People Can Fly. The studio had seen too many games get cancelled, after the lamentable failure of their live service project with Square Enix, Outriders. In December 2024, they announced layoffs of over 120 staff, and that two of their planned projects were being scaled down so that they can release them under budget.
It unfortunately seems that Gears of War: E-Day did not have enough work to keep everyone in the studio working. We hadn’t heard news or rumors of untoward incidents for this game behind the scenes. We have to assume this is simply a consequence of People Can Fly struggling to find success in this challenging business environment for the video game industry.
People Can Fly confirmed they were working on Gears of War: E-Day at the start of this year, as a hopeful sign that they can still keep going. Of course, now they’ve confirmed that this was their long secret Project Maverick to reassure investors that they’re still very much in business. We’re going to have to see how Project Maverick, AKA Gears of War: E-Day, works out. But The Coalition and People Can Fly are as capable studios as you can find in providing satisfying single player and multiplayer shooter fun. If this does turn out to be a success, we hope Microsoft remembers to acquire their services again for more games in the future.
