Microsoft Studios acquires rights to Gears of War franchise

[MerrickG]

http://news.xbox.com/2014/01/games-m...s-gears-of-war

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.”

Big news for MS. Congrats to them for guaranteeing that one of Xbox exclusive franchises will remain with them.

Is it too little too late for the franchise considering how lukewarm the response to Judgment was? Personally I loved Judgment.

[Wingman1977]

Originally Posted by MerrickG

http://news.xbox.com/2014/01/games-m...s-gears-of-war



Big news for MS. Congrats to them for guaranteeing that one of Xbox exclusive franchises will remain with them.

Is it too little too late for the franchise considering how lukewarm the response to Judgment was? Personally I loved Judgment.

I guess the reason GOW: Judgement did not as well a the prior installments is probably due to Cliffy B wasn't involved in the project (since he obviously left the company) and people can fly developed the game. Also, how much more can you do with the GOW franchise aside from prequels (I guess they could do a sequel but the war ended in GOW3). I guess we'll have to see. I do agree that it was a smart move by MS (I wonder if they'll have 343 studious do the next GOW). I also enjoyed GOW Judgement.

[Grumpy Cat]

Haters are gonna hate!

[Mavrick]

I guess they were affraid of what would happen when Epic released the next Gears on PS4 as well as xbox. So they decided to buy it outright I guess that's one way to try and beat the competition.

[Terjyn]

I don't see how this is a big deal.

They bought the name but not the talent.

Crash Bandicoot wasn't the same game at all when Naughty Dog stopped working on it.

So....yay?

*EDIT* Well, ok. I get that uninformed people will see the name and buy the game, however it HAS to be quality or you won't get return visitors for the next one.

Yet again Microsoft buys to keep off the competition instead of to build the industry.

[Mavrick]

Originally Posted by Terjyn

I don't see how this is a big deal.

They bought the name but not the talent.

Crash Bandicoot wasn't the same game at all when Naughty Dog stopped working on it.

So....yay?

Exactly, it could have been worse. MS could have bought Epic itself, and ended up like RARE

[Wingman1977]

Originally Posted by Terjyn

I don't see how this is a big deal.

They bought the name but not the talent.

Crash Bandicoot wasn't the same game at all when Naughty Dog stopped working on it.

So....yay?

*EDIT* Well, ok. I get that uninformed people will see the name and buy the game, however it HAS to be quality or you won't get return visitors for the next one.

Yet again Microsoft buys to keep off the competition instead of to build the industry.

Remember what happened with Halo. Bungie no longer working on the game and 343 studious taking over was the best thing to happen to the franchise. So lets not jump to conclusions. Also, Sony bought Naughty dog amongst other studious and that's fine. MS buys the rights to a franchise (that's already exclusive to the xbox brand) and people slam them? If it was Sony that bought the rights to MGS, people would praise them. Man, the PS bias on this site has gotten ridiculous.

[Terjyn]

Originally Posted by Wingman1977

Remember what happened with Halo. Bungie no longer working on the game and 343 studious taking over was the best thing to happen to the franchise. So lets not jump to conclusions. Also, Sony bought Naughty dog amongst other studious and that's fine. MS buys the rights to a franchise (that's already exclusive to the xbox brand) and people slam them? If it was Sony that bought the rights to MGS, people would praise them. Man, the PS bias on this site has gotten ridiculous.

This is a very mixed belief.

A lot of people HATED 343 studios version of Halo. We'll see if the next Halo sells as well now that it's known it's not the same people.

I would not praise Sony buying the rights to MGS, anymore than I praise this. In fact I'd hate it for the same reason. But the hypocrisy card sure is easy to play when you have no other thought.

[dyne]

Originally Posted by Wingman1977

Remember what happened with Halo. Bungie no longer working on the game and 343 studious taking over was the best thing to happen to the franchise. So lets not jump to conclusions. Also, Sony bought Naughty dog amongst other studious and that's fine. MS buys the rights to a franchise (that's already exclusive to the xbox brand) and people slam them? If it was Sony that bought the rights to MGS, people would praise them. Man, the PS bias on this site has gotten ridiculous.

The issue with Bungie though is that they worked on nothing but Halo for how many years? Keep in mind, Halo was being worked on (for Mac) long before it was ever an fps for MS's original box. I remember reading about it back in a magazine called Computer and Video Games (?) They burnt out as anybody would.

I'm just wondering if Epic will even make games anymore or just concentrate on their engine.

I'm also thinking this may be a play to have the rights so they can make some GoW original programming for their film/tv service on the One ala the upcoming Halo series.

[Terjyn]

To expand on the "build the industry" comment:

I don't resent Dead Rising 3 because Microsoft funded a game that would not exist otherwise.

THAT'S what I want Microsoft to do. Grow the industry.

Instead they spend so much money paying companies to keep product and/or big names away from their competitors.

Invest in a studio, to give them more resources. Pay to bring games to your platform so it will reach more people*. Invest in the creation of games that wouldn't exist other ways.

Stop paying to remove the game from people. This is the #1 reason (IMO) people grow to despise Microsoft and the Xbox product-line.

*People may remember my hatred of Final Fantasy XIII multi-plat. That was because of the DVD factor on PS360 games hurting game potential, not because of a total opposition to multi-platform games from their end. The One has nothing camparable with the potential to hold back the PS4 version in the same way.

[UK_fan_05]

I just want another GOOD Gears game. I don't give a **** if it is an exclusive or comes out on both systems, just give me a Gears 1/3 MP experience, more like 1 hopefully, and I'll buy 10 copies.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Terjyn

To expand on the "build the industry" comment:

I don't resent Dead Rising 3 because Microsoft funded a game that would not exist otherwise.

THAT'S what I want Microsoft to do. Grow the industry.

Im sorry, but this reeks of ridiculous double standards. MS bought the Gears of War IP to grow their brand and the industry. Epic was likely done with the Gears franchise and MS purchasing it guarantees that it will get new life.

If Epic sold the franchise that means they likely no longer wanted it so they sold it to someone who would want it.

I have NO issue at all with MS doing this.

[ReverendSlim]

The team they've assembled at Black Tusk seems pretty solid and it's good that they brought Fergusson on board to oversee things. That said, as happy as I am with them getting the franchise rights... I don't really know where they could go with it story wise. I'm in the camp that actually liked Judgment, though I think People Can Fly should have done another Bulletstorm instead (because it seemed like parts of that game leaked into Gears).

Could be amazing like Halo 4... Could be a giant clusterf#%k. Either way, I hope they give us some next-gen Horde mode action!

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by ReverendSlim

The team they've assembled at Black Tusk seems pretty solid and it's good that they brought Fergusson on board to oversee things. That said, as happy as I am with them getting the franchise rights... I don't really know where they could go with it story wise. I'm in the camp that actually liked Judgment, though I think People Can Fly should have done another Bulletstorm instead (because it seemed like parts of that game leaked into Gears).

Could be amazing like Halo 4... Could be a giant clusterf#%k. Either way, I hope they give us some next-gen Horde mode action!

yeah, I liked Judgment too. I felt the single player campaign was solid.

The mulitplayer made a lot of people mad.

I was rather surprised at how poorly it sold. The last number I heard was under 2 million, which is HORRIBLE considering that GoW 1-3 sole between 6-8M copies.

[UK_fan_05]

Originally Posted by MerrickG

yeah, I liked Judgment too. I felt the single player campaign was solid.

The mulitplayer made a lot of people mad.

I was rather surprised at how poorly it sold. The last number I heard was under 2 million, which is HORRIBLE considering that GoW 1-3 sole between 6-8M copies.

The MP was awful. It had potential but just turned out bad for long time fans of the series.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by UK_fan_05

The MP was awful. It had potential but just turned out bad for long time fans of the series.

For me the Gears games were all about Coop and I felt that Judgment delivered there in spades.

[UK_fan_05]

Originally Posted by MerrickG

For me the Gears games were all about Coop and I felt that Judgment delivered there in spades.

Co-op was fun. I liked it in Gears 3 the best. Gears 1 MP is for the hardcore players and I wish they would go back to that instead of catering to casuals. Hopefully Black Tusk Studios can veer more toward that.

[Elandyll]

/shrug

Gears was always associated with the Xbox, so it really isn't a big deal I think, particularly given how tepid the reception for it has been in the recent past.

I guess MS feels the heat to get some recognizable franchises as exclusives on their machine, aside from Halo, Fable and Forza, who can only do so much to support a more expensive and "technically" weaker platform.

This gen will be all about exclusives for MS if they want to stay relevant, and they seem to know it.
Also, I don't think other platforms (PC, PS4, WiiU) lose anything in the process anyway, as I really believe that Epic was not interested in doing anything with the Franchise, and would rather develop new IPs that they fully control.

Smart move for both imo.

[RaijinUT]

Epic was done with this series.

Microsoft buying the acquiring the rights only means that they wish for the series to continue. Not sure if that is a good or bad thing.

[ObiWanShinobi]

Gears of War 1 was a fantastic shooter with a nonexistent story

Gears of War 2 was a fantastic shooter with more polish and a fleshed out story that turned out to be so-so.

Gears of War 3 was a fantastic shooter with even MORE polish and a story getting too long in the tooth. Just got silly and uninteresting in my opinion.

So that's my "in a nutshell" assessment of the Gears of War games. I really enjoyed the look and mood of the first two far more than the third but the third had the better, tighter gameplay.

I wouldn't mind seeing another Gears game as I imagine it would look amazing on the XB1 but I hope they do something different with the series. I don't mind the gameplay being similar but a new character and a new story could be the only thing the series really needs.