Writing the book The Art of Design of Gears of War in 2011, games writer Tom Bissell has a close connection with the Gears franchise. As Gears of War: Judgement — the fourth instalment in the franchise — hits stores in the US, Bissell has spoken about his work on the title, detailing his interactions with level designers and how he helped portray the struggle of the Cog army.

In an interview with The New Yorker, Bissell discusses how videogame storytelling has changed, noting that modern games need more interactive elements. With a nod to younger gamers, the Gears writer believes gamers are "taking it for granted that the things they watch and read have some type of input/output aspect to them," as storytelling and traditional video games "split off from each other" and "become their own thing."