War Stories: How Gears of War almost didn’t have multiplayer

Produced by Adam Davis-McGee, directed by James Herron, and edited by Patrick Biesemans and JC Scruggs. Click here for the transcript. (video link)

Today, the original Gears of War is remembered fondly as one of the Xbox 360's most iconic online multiplayer shooters. But in our latest War Stories video, Gears of War gameplay designer and lead level designer Lee Perry tells Ars about how the game's multiplayer modes were almost scrapped at the last minute.

"The thing at Epic back then was it was a very small studio," Perry told us. So while the development team "knew from a very early point" that they wanted multiplayer in the game, they also felt they were "dramatically losing the battle" with games like Halo in terms of sheer workforce.