Media Microsoft acquires Gears of War from Epic

SOURCE - XBox

Microsoft Studios acquires rights to Gears of War franchise
By Xbox Wire Staff posted January 27, 2014 at 6:00 AM

Today we're excited to announce that Microsoft Studios has acquired the rights to the “Gears of War” franchise from Epic Games, including rights to all existing and future games, entertainment experiences and merchandise. In addition, we are excited to announce that Black Tusk Studios in Vancouver, BC will take over development of the “Gears of War” franchise and that Rod Fergusson, former Director of Production at Epic Games on the “Gears of War” franchise, will join Microsoft and play a key studio leadership role at Black Tusk on the development of the franchise going forward. We had a chance to chat with Phil Spencer, Head of Microsoft Studios, Hanno Lemke, General Manager of Black Tusk Studios at Microsoft Studios, and Rod Fergusson about the big news.

Why did Microsoft purchase the “Gears of War” franchise?
Phil Spencer: It all comes back to our commitment to Xbox fans. The “Gears of War” franchise has a very strong, passionate and valued fan base on Xbox. Over twenty-two million units have been sold across all “Gears of War” titles worldwide, grossing over $1B dollars (US). This franchise, and these fans, are part of the soul of Xbox. By acquiring this franchise, Microsoft Studios will continue to offer them more of their favorite games and entertainment experiences from the “Gears of War” universe.

Why did Epic Games agree to this acquisition?
Hanno Lemke: Epic has been a tremendous partner to work with, and it has been a privilege for Microsoft to be Epic’s publishing partner and work together to achieve the phenomenal success of the “Gears of War” games. Epic remains great partners and good friends of Microsoft Studios. In fact we will collaborate closely with Epic to ensure the inclusion of the Unreal Engine technology into the “Gears of War” franchise going forward remains consistent with the high quality fans have come to expect from the franchise.

Why was an as-yet-unproven studio like Black Tusk chosen to lead the “Gears of War” development over a more established studio?
Phil Spencer: Black Tusk has assembled a world-class team with deep experience and passion for the shooter space, and specifically the “Gears of War” franchise. I am extremely confident that under the leadership of Hanno Lemke, Rod Fergusson and our other leaders in the studio, Black Tusk is well equipped to take on the future development of the “Gears of War” franchise.

Are there plans to bring anyone who worked on previous “Gears of War” games onboard to work on the future of the series?
Hanno Lemke: The news that Rod Fergusson is joining Black Tusk should be really exciting for fans of the franchise. Rod has played a leadership role at Epic on all of the “Gears of Wars” games, he understands the franchise deeply but equally importantly he understands the fans of the franchise – what they love, where they want to see the franchise evolve. Once the news spreads about the opportunities at Black Tusk, I’m confident we’ll see interest from a number of talented developers who share the same passion for the “Gears” franchise as the developers at Black Tusk.

When can we expect to hear more about the plans for the “Gears of War” franchise?
Hanno Lemke: We hope to be able to share more news about “Gears of War” later this year.

You’re moving back to Canada and back to working on the “Gears” franchise. Is it like a homecoming for you?
Rod Fergusson: I’m extremely excited to be joining Black Tusk Studios to oversee development on the “Gears of War” franchise. I’ve been privileged to work on a lot of great games with a lot of great teams, but “Gears” has had the most impact on me professionally and personally, so this really feels like a homecoming. I can’t wait to share more with you all soon.

Finally, Epic games shared the following statement on the acquisition:
“Epic Games has reached an agreement to sell the ‘Gears of War’ intellectual property rights to Microsoft. We’re very proud of the franchise we built in close partnership with Microsoft over the past decade and are happy that this agreement enables Microsoft to forge ahead with the ‘Gears’ universe on their industry-leading platforms as Epic concentrates its efforts on new projects,” said Epic founder and CEO Tim Sweeney. “Epic remains totally dedicated to supporting Xbox One and is licensing the Unreal Engine 4 technology to Microsoft in support of their future projects.”

Honestly great news, IMO. Rod F back is a good thing. Gears of War: Judgment, while an interesting game, missed the mark in may ways compared to Gears 1 - 3.

And excited for more Gears, but not like Judgment. Epic defintely hinted at being done with Gears, and no doubt want to move on to new things (I am surmising that last part)

I was a die-hard Gears of War fan, yet for some reason, never got around to playing Judgment. Hoping to still do so at some point after getting it for cheap. Excited that Rod is back on the team! An Xbox One Gears title is very, very appealing!

I didn't like Judgement, it didn't keep me playing for months on end like the other Gears did for multiple reasons.
Any change from the last game is good I think, I'm not going to be excited for the next game but hopefully they'll bring back what made Gears so great.

Thank you Jebus.....

Cliffy B's take...

The one constant is change
Friends,

Waking up today I was drowning in a deluge of emails, tweets, direct messages and smoke signals.

My former employer has sold the Gears of War IP/franchise to Microsoft and my friend Rod Fergusson is going to be working on it.

To be honest, I don’t think the franchise could be in better hands. Heck, Rod’s Twitter handle, to this day, is “Gears Viking.” Gears is just as much Rod’s baby as it was mine. He’ll take good care of her. (Rod, I owe you a girly drink at GDC.)

Phil Spencer went out of his way to give me a phone call to inform me of the transaction last week. Phil, you didn’t have to do that, you’re a gentleman. I appreciate it; that goes a long way. 343 knocked it out of the park with Halo and I think Black Tusk will do a fantastic job with Gears.

I suppose this puts the nail in the coffin of the question “Will Gears ever come to Playstation?”

Safe to say that’s not likely to happen. (Besides, it gives me something to look forward to on Xbox One besides Titanfall and Project Spark…oh and more Halo, of course.)

Now that that’s out of the way…

I’m not going to move to Vancouver and work on it.

I’m not going to consult on it.

My headspace is in the future now, not the past. I have come to realize that until you give people something new to focus on they will obsess about the past. (good problem to have!)

To those of you who love Gears, I love you as well, and I appreciate your support through the years. The fandom, the cosplay, the tattoos, it all means more than any amount of money could ever mean.

These recent events have steeled my resolve to make something entirely new.

Time for new cosplay, new tattoos, new fandom.

Fingers crossed there will be news soon.

Stay tuned.
Love,
Clifford

awesome comments from CliffyB. People like to give him a hard time, but he really was Gears, so Kudos to him for working on new stuff

Guess they dont want Sony to have the games that's ok im done with that franchise anyway.

I'm looking forward to it. As long as Rod Ferguson is on board I have faith that it'll be good.

Fritz said:

I'm looking forward to it. As long as Rod Ferguson is on board I have faith that it'll be good.

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exactly. Halo 4 was handled well, IMO. MS cares about their franchises, so them owning Gears makes perfect sense.

THis new and titanfall just totally justified my Xbone purchase

Overall pretty good news. I have been a big Gears fan (Gears 1 is why I bought an Xbox). I do have to say I was a little bit letdown by Judgement. I want to like it so bad since it prominently featured Baird - my favorite character. I thought the campaign play was solid, but multi player was a huge letdown after the epic success of Gears 3. Horde, Beast, aahhh good times. Gears 3 is still the pinnacle that all future Gears games need to strive for. Here's hoping...

I think this will work out. I too didn't enjoy judgement all that much. To be honest I didn't even finish it. It felt too much like playing rooms instead of levels. Hopefully they go back to actual levels again.

Yeah, Judgment was done by the B Team at Epic - it missed on so many levels. Campaign was cool, but not epic, nor as scary as it should have been. MP was horrific though

SOURCE - Gamespot

Xbox One Gears of War game to "reignite" the franchise, says Microsoft
And don't expect a quick turnaround for Black Tusk Studios' first stab at the beloved franchise, Phil Spencer says.
by Eddie Makuch on February 20, 2014

The first Gears of War game from new series developer Black Tusk Studios must "reignite" the franchise and grow the series in a meaningful way, according to Microsoft Studios executive Phil Spencer.

"Still working through plan. I can say first original [Gears of War] from [Black Tusk] has to reignite franchise and grow it, won't be a quick turn," Spencer said on Twitter. He further explained that he thinks Microsoft has assembled the right team to achieve this goal.

"I just want to give them the time," Spencer said, suggesting that the game's release is still a ways off.

Microsoft purchased the Gears of War franchise from Epic Games last month for an undisclosed sum and revealed that former Epic Games producer Rod Fergusson had returned to Microsoft to work on the series. Official details on the new Gears of War game are expected sometime in 2014.

No new games in the series have been officially announced, but it would be surprising if Black Tusk's first title doesn't come to at least the Xbox One. Longtime Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski will not work on the game in any capacity.

Spencer previously teased that a future entry in the Gears of War series might be "more gritty" than past games in the series. He also explained that Gears of War: Judgment did not hit the level of quality of past games and this was reflected in review scores and sales, he argued. This is something he's hoping to turn around with the new Gears of War game.

"I don't want to call it a reboot because I think it's an overused term, but think about where that franchise goes and how to expand what it was," Spencer said.

The Gears of War franchise is one of the Xbox platform's leading series. It has spanned four titles so far: Gears of War (2006), Gears of War 2 (2008), Gears of War 3 (2011), and Gears of War: Judgment (2013). Together, the games have sold more than 22 million copies and generated over $1 billion. Gears of War Exile, rumored to be a Kinect-enabled spinoff, was canceled.

Sounds like they have the right idea.......I say reboot the series, timeline wise, but from a new POV

Now sideshow. Make marcus fenix PF!!!


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Matt S said:

Sounds like they have the right idea.......I say reboot the series, timeline wise, but from a new POV

Click to expand...

I think that would be a good idea.

SOURCE - Gamespot

Xbox One Gears of War game will use "bleeding edge" rendering techniques for "best in class" visuals
Job listings at Black Tusk Studios also seek individuals to make an "industry-leading multiplayer experience."
by Eddie Makuch on April 24, 2014

Unsurprisingly, it appears Microsoft and newly established first-party studio Black Tusk Studios have major ambitions for the all-new Gears of War game for Xbox One in development at the Vancouver-based outfit. A spate of recently posted job listings spotted by DualShockers reveal new information about the game.

One listing for a Senior Rendering Engineer says that Black Tusk's new Gears of War game will make use of "bleeding edge new rendering techniques to deliver best in class visuals for a AAA console game." This job ad also mentions "major new features."

Black Tusk's job listings also include a call for an Art Director, who should be comfortable "working with a broad spectrum of styles, from photo-realistic to highly stylized." Microsoft hasn't said yet what art style the new Gears of War game will use, but it appears everything is on the table right now.

Other job ads mention "innovative features," and one post for a Gameplay Engineer specifically seeks an individual with experience in co-op gameplay, suggesting that the new Gears of War game will carry forward the franchise's proclivity for co-op.

Multiplayer also appears to be a focus for the new Gears of War title, as one position for a Lead Multiplayer Level Designer calls for an individual to work on an "industry-leading multiplayer experience." This person should also have familiarity with traditional Gears of War gameplay and past multiplayer map designs, the post says.

In addition, a job posting for a Senior Level Designer calls out creating "interesting and dynamic levels and mechanics," going to note that a successful candidate will end up investing and integrating "great events and gameplay mechanics, with the goal of making every moment special and memorable."

Microsoft purchased the Gears of War franchise from Epic Games earlier this year for an undisclosed sum. Veteran Gears of War producer Rod Fergusson is working on the game at Black Tusk Studios, but we have not seen any images or video from the project to date.

This will be a long......long wait............!!! LOL

I wonder if they've had any thoughts in the back of their minds of porting the original Gears to XBone?