Xbox laid off Juan Vaca, the story director for Gears of War: E-Day, just two weeks before the game's October 6th release after more than four years of development. The layoff occurred as part of a broader Xbox restructuring that affected 268 developers across multiple studios, including consolidations at Rare, World's Edge, and Ninja Theory.
Microsoft laid off 268 Xbox staff including Juan Vaca, story director for Gears of War: E-Day, just one week before the game's early access launch. The timing is particularly harsh as Vaca had celebrated the game going gold days earlier, and similar layoffs affected Halo Studios' cinematic director Josh Daniels one day after his promotion.