Gears 5 gets an esports tournament

As announced at E3 this year by Microsoft, the newest iteration of the Gears of War franchise – Gears 5 – will be released this year, on September 10th. Where previous titles have all been called ‘Gears of War’, this newest title is called ‘Gears’ without the ‘of War’. That’s not the only change though – the popular Xbox franchise will have a female protagonist this time. Previous characters will still appear, but only as the supporting cast. In the meantime, the game will feature things like 3-player online and local co-op, and that’s precisely where ELEAGUE stepped in.

Mere days after the E3 announcement, IMG owned esports brand ELEAGUE announced that they will be hosting the very first Gears 5 event on July 13th and 14th. This exciting event will be called the ELEAGUE Gears Summer Series Invitational and it will have eight different pro teams facing off against each other.

The whole thing will take place in Atlanta, Georgia, where ELEAGUE has its own Arena. As for the teams participating in the event, there’s some pretty big names there – OpTic Gaming, Ghost Gaming, Rise Nation, Simplicity, EU’s Finest, Mazer, Glory and Rise Nation are taking part and vying for a top spot.

The invitational will be hosted and commented on by well-known Gears of War personalities – Alex ‘Goldenboy’ Mendez, Jourdan ‘Ribs’ Ribeiro, Jacob ‘PR’ Arce and Ben ‘Bensopn’ Bow to name just a few. There’s perks if you decide to watch the event as well – fans who tune into the stream for at least an hour can earn some exclusive in-game goodies for Gears of War 4 and Gears 5 at the same time!

Now, ELEAGUE isn’t exactly new to the Gears franchise – they’ce previously partnered with Xbox in order to promote the franchise in a six-part documentary series. That’s not quite the same thing of course, but it’s still a pretty impressive venture. As for when regular players get to play the new title – as mentioned, release is set for the 10th of September, while players who have an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate can get their hands on it a little sooner – they can start playing on September 6th.

As for the game itself, it has fans hyped quite a bit already. A continuation of the previous storyline, it is set to answer some of the questions that were left open by Gears of War 4, as well as a series of new features altogether. Among these is the map editor – this is a first in the franchise, as per an official tweet from Xbox. Of course, the online and local co-op modes are new as well, as is the character pack that is available with the game. It features Terminator skins because of an upcoming crossover with the soon-to-be-released Terminator: Dark Fate movie. Whether you’re a Terminator fan or not, it’s a pretty cool pack to grab for the launch of the new title!