Epic sells Gears of War franchise to Microsoft

  • Two Factor Authentication is now available on BeyondUnreal Forums. To configure it, visit your Profile and look for the "Two Step Verification" option on the left side. We can send codes via email (may be slower) or you can set up any TOTP Authenticator app on your phone (Authy, Google Authenticator, etc) to deliver codes. It is highly recommended that you configure this to keep your account safe.
Raynor.Z

Raynor.Z

Ad Nocendum Potentes Sumus
Feb 1, 2006
1,491
7
38
Newsworthy?

Microsoft Studios acquires rights to Gears of War franchise

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.
Click to expand...

http://news.xbox.com/2014/01/games-microsoft-studios-gears-of-war

Could this increase the chances for new Unreal title? I definitely hope so.
 
Crotale

Crotale

_________________________ _______________
Jan 20, 2008
2,535
12
38
Anywhere But Here
Microsoft has always had publishing rights to the Gears franchise, this move just gave them sole ownership of the IP as well.

I doubt this means any movement on the Unreal games front. Heck, I stopped hoping for that years ago, not to mention the squandered opportunities from the Samaritan demo that could have spawned a whole new series of games, books, etc.

I do hope this alleged "shooter" they are working on brings back some of the lost glory of the UT days. Man, wouldn't that be something?
 
AWW SNACK

AWW SNACK

Member
Feb 13, 2009
275
0
16
Crotale said:
Microsoft has always had publishing rights to the Gears franchise, this move just gave them sole ownership of the IP as well.

I doubt this means any movement on the Unreal games front. Heck, I stopped hoping for that years ago, not to mention the squandered opportunities from the Samaritan demo that could have spawned a whole new series of games, books, etc.

I do hope this alleged "shooter" they are working on brings back some of the lost glory of the UT days. Man, wouldn't that be something?
Click to expand...

These days, I assume that Epic is an engine-making company with a barebones game-making crew that never gets anything past the prototype stage.
 
U

UBerserker

old EPIC GAMES
Jan 20, 2008
4,798
0
0
Epic is done with Gears

Fortnite is still going on.
They also mentioned UE4 titles to come out in 2015.
 
Leo(T.C.K.)

Leo(T.C.K.)

I did something m0tarded and now I have read only access! :(
May 14, 2006
4,794
36
48
AWW SNACK said:
The only thing they released was that trailer years ago. I'd say it's probably dead at this point.
Click to expand...
No, it's undead. Just like the zombies.

Either way, so the Gears franchise will go on but without Cliff or anyone like that, so much for more milking out of franchise, it should have ended with that prequel thing. And no I think that would be really bad if the Unreal franchise rights went to Microsoft. Never would want that to happen. I think the next Unreal game shouldn't be done by Epic though at least not entirely because there's hardly anyone of the core team left(minus like two persons or smth) and who is also a true fan. What should happen is to have a team with true dedication for the game while epic provides the engine. This way less screwups can happen unless its headed by someone like Atari in case of Legend's Unreal 2. The next game should be completely opposite of that, but I guess that's just daydreaming. New teams can have fresh ideas yet bring in a lot of old flavor and references so it isn't unlike a true unreal game. Just needs a lot of dedication for the project.
 
Carbon

Carbon

Altiloquent bloviator.
Mar 23, 2013
557
10
18
Meh...was never into GoW anyhow. Yes, it seems Epic are an engine developer now, but still, here's hoping they either develop another Unreal title or sell that to someone who has some passion for the series.
 
Leo(T.C.K.)

Leo(T.C.K.)

I did something m0tarded and now I have read only access! :(
May 14, 2006
4,794
36
48
ambershee said:
Unreal 2 was developed by Legend, the same folks who handled Return to Na Pali.
Click to expand...
Yes, but I said "headed" by Atari. Atari pulled lots of stops/decisions on the developement ultimately. Besides those aren't the same folks that handled RTNP. RTNP was an afterthought after original levelpack/expansion plans were cancelled. Being the only surviving team from the gti license fray, the job went to Legend, but it wasn't the full team, instead contractors worked on that almost exclusively, compared to say what comprised of the wheel of time team.
Atari/Infogrames had pushed the removal of multiplayer idea forward and other stuff and they closed down Legend based on disagreements later on, so it's very telling who was in charge.
 
Last edited:
Sir_Brizz

Sir_Brizz

Administrator
Staff member
Feb 3, 2000
26,020
83
48
Epic didn't want to maintain it anymore, and Microsoft probably offered a huge wad of cash.
 
Rambowjo

Rambowjo

Das Protoss
Aug 3, 2005
5,073
5
38
32
Tapeland
One can only hope that selling Gears will allow Epic to focus on PC. Tim Sweeney seems pretty big on Nvidia and Oculus, which are pretty much exclusive PC things.

When GDC/E3 comes around, we'll hopefully get a proper look at Fortnite.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom