I don't think it was a full 3 years, I remember with Gears 4 TC themselves even admitted that 2 new maps every month was a bit too ambitious. That's why we kept getting crap towards the end like Reclaimed Windflare, Impact Dark, Forge Blitz, etc. By then I'm sure most of their focus was on development for Gears 5, so I imagine they were also overwhelmed trying to get everything done by launch. Kind of a shame actually, both projects could have been masterpieces with more time. At this point I'm convinced they should have waited until at least December if not 2020 to push the launch, but I'm sure this game will get much better in a few months to a year.