Today Microsoft announced that they have bought the Gears of War franchise from Epic Games. Including all previously released and any future titles, as well as merchandise and “entertainment experiences,” the arrangement took the gaming community by storm and rumors about Epic’s decision quickly spread. However, the PR team quickly took it to twitter saying that despite the arrangement with the billion-dollar company, they haven’t quit game development and are still working on various titles, including Fortnite.
The PR manager Wes Philips said on twitter that Epic Games ‘currently have multiple games in development,’ and this was confirmed by his colleague Dana Cowley, who confirmed that they ‘are still making games,’ so fans of their work should not be worried.
@BrendanSinclair We're still making games, don't worry.
— Dana Cowley (@danacowley) January 27, 2014
Microsoft will continue the development of Gears of War via their Black Tusk Studios and Epic’s Unreal Engine technology. Gaming development veteran Rod Fergusson, who worked on Gears of War and BioShock: Infinite will also be working at Black Tusk and is said to play a “key studio leadership role.”
Microsoft Studios executive Phil Spencer also commented on the agreement saying that he is “extremely confident that under the leadership of Hanno Lemke, Rod Fergusson and other leaders in the studio, Black Tusk” will be able to bring the franchise back to life, bigger and better than before.
Currently released games of the Gears of War franchise are Gears of War 1,2 and 3 (2006, 2008, 2011) as well as Gears of War: Judgement, which was released last year. Future games haven’t been mentioned, but it seems as if Microsoft has put quite a bit of thought into the future of the franchise.
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