Gears 5 will feature different options in its online mode from its predecessor and Bounty Cards will be one of the features that are missing from the game, but they could be added in a later update. In Gears of War 4, it was possible to obtain Bounty Cards that were drawn from packs. Bounty Cards were consumable items that could only be used in Horde mode or the competitive PvP multiplayer modes and their function was to make proceedings more interesting by adding extra challenges.
Bounty Cards would give the player additional objectives to complete, such as "Kill 100 Enemies with an Assault Rifle" or "Build 5 Fortifications". If the player completed these objectives, then they would be rewarded with additional experience points or money. The Bounty Cards were single-use items that went away once the player collected the reward, but it was also possible to break them down for scrap if the player wasn't interested in completing them, which lead to the pay-to-win issue of horde mode (since buying more cards, meant more scrap to craft cards you want to upgrade characters).
The Bounty Cards are not due to appear in Gears 5 at launch, but it's possible that they will return in a future update for the game. Screen Rant's Rob Keyes recently spoke to Rod Fergusson, Studio Head and Creative Director for Gears 5 and he explained the reasons why Bounty Cards did not make it into Gears 5 and how they could return in the future.
Screen Rant: In terms of the horde mode stuff, the structure of the progression is very different with the removal of loot boxes/card packs. But I remember in Gears 4, there was also a card-based bounty system as well for challenges and extra rewards. Is there any sort of system like that in Gears 5?
Rod Fergusson: Not initially. It's one of the things we talked about as something we might go and mete out; it might be one of the things we add into operations when we start getting sub-objectives. We felt like the sub-objectives sometimes would pull you away. Like, “Go get seven executions,” and then somebody would go risk their lives and die, and that would be the collapse of your whole thing.
So, initially, because we already have that with power taps, kind of pulling at your base to break it apart, we wanted to get this cord established, and then we might then reintroduce bonus objectives.
One thing I noticed was that there were a lot of bounty cards that were like “Do this in 10 waves” or “Do this in 20 waves.” And as soon as it hit the 20 waves, they quit.
Rod Fergusson: Yeah, it's like now got 30 waves, or I'm missing it player. But the funny thing about that, Ryan and I have had that conversation a lot, is that it actually took the average of wave play much further. In Gears 3, the average was closer to 10, because people would play 10 and quit. 10 and quit. Now, they doubled that; they got to 20. So, we didn't quite get them to 50, which I think this one will do. I think we can also find other ways to incentivize that. But the fact that we were able to take them from 10 waves as an average play session to 20 waves, we actually took as a win.
Bounty Cards were initially pulled from Gears 5 due to how players put themselves at unnecessary risk in order to complete them, which could result in putting other players in danger. Gears 5 encourages players to capture areas called power taps, which will give the player access to a resource known as power that will give them more rewards. The power tap mechanic encourages players to spread themselves out, which offers more benefits at the risk of being overwhelmed, which is one of the new features that acts as a replacement for the Bounty Cards.
Bounty Cards are not the only features absent from the game as it has previously been confirmed that the four-player campaign won't be in Gears 5, as well as all references to smoking and tobacco. The monetization aspects of Gears 5 have also undergone significant changes from Gears of War 4, as the Season Passes and Gear Packs are gone from the game. Developer The Coalition has stated that it wants Gears 5 to change the way games are monetized in the future, with the removal of loot boxes and random elements from the DLC. The Bounty Cards might not be in Gears 5 at launch, but it seems likely that they will return in a different form at some point in the future.
Gears 5 releases September 10, 2019 for PC and Xbox One. Gears 5 Ultimate Edition releases early on September 6th.