Microsoft acquires the 'Gears of War' franchise from Epic Games

[xxMATTGxx]

Microsoft already has the rights to the Halo series, and now it's adding another blockbuster to its stable of franchises: Gears of War. The company announced today that it has acquired the rights for the series from developer Epic Games. While no new Gears of War games were announced, development for the series will be handled by Microsoft Studios' Vancouver-based subsidiary Black Tusk Studios. Former series producer Rod Fergusson will be joining Black Tusk to "play a key studio leadership role" on the franchise.

"We hope to be able to share more news about Gears of War later this year."

It appears to be a similar arrangement to when Microsoft acquired the rights for Halo from developer Bungie, and passed development responsibilities off to a newly formed studio called 343 Industries, which went on to launch Halo 4. The deal includes the rights to "all existing and future games, entertainment experiences, and merchandise" in the Gears of War universe. As for when we might see the results of this new partnership, Black Tusk general manager Hanno Lemke says that "We hope to be able to share more news about Gears of War later this year."

Source: http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/27/53...rom-epic-games

Anyone have any thoughts on this? I've never played Gears of War myself but I guess it makes sense for Microsoft to get the rights to the franchise.

[lucaskf390]

I never played Gears Of War too but my friends play and they love the game, microsoft is investing in a good game

[Lewis]

Oh, gears of war had such an amazing storyline. I don't know how they could make a sequel after the third, especially with the loss of such a main character. Another prequel is possible, but who knows.

I'm glad they bought Gears of War - especially now that they've brought back such a main person that made 1-3 a success. I look forward to hearing about future updates of a new game.

[mrwoooooooo]

first one was good and they went downhill from there

[James]

Gears of war 1 was ace
2 was bearable
3 was just a bore.

Will be interesting to see where Microsoft take it.

[Jazz]

I'm quite looking forward to seeing what comes of this, the GOW series has always been quite good but like most sequel games they start to get worse and worse

[GommeInc]

Hopefully they've acquired it to give it a lot of support and to maintain or improve it. Nothing is more annoying that a company that's only into acquisitions to leech off the popularity and to profit from that, only to watch it slowly die off because they're not really interested in expanding it to make it enjoyable for the gamer. And yes, I'm talking about Electronic Arts.

[samsaBEAR]

Gears for me is the golden-standard for third person shooters. No game has ever managed to replicate the same feel for playing, and especially the cover system that Gears is known so well for (and dare I say the originator of the current trend). That said, Judgment was just plain awful, it was obviously rushed out and it just wasn't Gears. Microsoft buying the rights and giving them to a new studio can only be a good thing, especially as Rod Fergusson is back, lead developer on Gears 1-3 before he moved to help with Bioshock Infinite. He knows Gears and he knows what makes a good game, I have extremely high hopes for future games.