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Microsoft Studios acquires rights to Gears of War franchise/Black Tusk does the work

NHale

Member
I'm really surprised EPIC decided to sell the IP completely instead of going into another exclusive partnership. Wonder how much it cost MS...

Most of the talent that made Gears of War already left the company. People Can Fly helped with Gears 2 and 3 and did most of the work on Judgement also lost most of the talent.

To me it seems they sold the IP because they don't have the staff to make those kind of games anymore. So it's a win-win for both parties. Epic got the money for something that they can't make anymore and MS retained a valuable IP for them.
 
I loved the gears of war games last gen but they are just like god of war and killzone to me now. If they're doing a new one it needs to be drastically different because I'm beyond tired of these series.
 
Good for fans of the IP but, just like with UC4, I'd rather hear of new IPs for a new console generation instead old, worn-out IPs from previous gens.
 
Let's not split hairs. They both milk their franchises. Heck, everyone does and who can blame them if they make money.

Horizon, Halo Wars, and ODST aren't "real" franchise entries and aren't treated as such by the fanbase (ODST is an expansion to Halo 3, and shares its multiplayer). Might as well call NSLU, Mario Kart and Smash sequels to NSMB U.
 

Instro

Member
Lol so whatever Black Tusk was working on has either been shitcanned or will be dubbed a GoW game. Epic must have made out like bandits on this deal. MS is going to be milking it heavily to make back the money I would imagine.
 

BigTnaples

Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
Well shit.


E3 game itself did not look very interesting, though the graphics were nice(if not totally CGI).



Looking forward to some more Gears on Xbox One, but without Cliffy and crew on the game, I worry it will lose its soul.
 

K' Dash

Gold Member
This thread is SALTY, Gears was one of my favorite franchises last gen, depending on how Black Tusk manages the IP I may have to buy an Xbox again.
 

JB1981

Member
Up until Judgment Gears of War was probably my favorite shooter of last generation. The first and third games were amazing! There is really no other TPS experience like Gears. Hopefully they can capture the magic again and make something exciting.
 

JimiNutz

Banned
Woooo Hooooo!
Set the next one 30 years after Gears 3.

Old man Marcus and his son! Fighting new enemies, new weapons etc.

Can't wait.
 
This is great news for fans of the franchise that wanted to see it continue. I had a feeling Epic was done with it. Judgment may have underperformed but I think the franchise is pretty iconic for the last generation and should still have a lot of pull with the right weight behind it.
 
4) We now know MS' big holiday 2015 title.

I think it will be 2016 honestly. This seems like a very recent thing and judging from the little interview with Rod Fergusson on Major Nelson's blog it sounds like they haven't even really started development on it.

The new Gears will be incubating for a while. Probably for the best too.
 

Azlan

Member
A bit disappointed by the lack of a new Black Tusk IP, but that disappointment is overshadowed by news of a new Gear of War helmed by Fergusson. I do hope it takes the game in a completely new direction though. They need to breath some new life and fresh dynamics into the franchise and not just a pretty coat of paint.
 

Neuro

Member
The same shittone that Judgement sold?
They need to heavily alter and improve the whole franchise in order to achieve those sales of Gears 3.

Judgement and Ascension sold equally poorly both were released at the end of the respective cycles and could not introduce any new mechanics to the franchise

Gears X will sell a lot of Xbones but I think it wont be ready till next year

MSoft will have one more new franchise for their console, so that every dev team gets atleast 2 years to make a game/sequel/stopover game

The way I look at it now, its going to be

Halo 5 (2014)
Gears X (2015)
New IP, Halo Cannon (2016)
Gears X1 (2017)
Halo 6, New IP Sequel (2018)
Gear Cannon (2019)
 

Jack cw

Member
Many factors led to Judgment not doing that well. I believe the end of the gen had a lot to do with it, for starters. It was also a prequel, which didn't go over with many of the long time fans(I didn't buy it, first one I didn't get). At least for me, that doesn't make me all of a sudden not want anymore Gears; in fact, this announcement has my interest more than any other game coming down the pipeline for the One.

I'm a huge Gears fan and its my favourite TPS and I was pretty underwhelmed by Gears 3 thats why I didnt gave Judgement the chance it deserved and I guess I wasnt the only one. As nice as this deal is for Microsoft the franchise itself needs to arrive to next gen with something new than blown up set pieces. The multiplayer needs to be improved as well as it was pretty much broken. I have faith in Black Tusk but its a difficult task.
 

harSon

Banned
Well the quote from Spencer says that Black Tusk have just been messing around with concepts for 6-9 months and that the leadership knew about the GEoW deal.

It would appear that BT were twiddling their thumbs waiting to see if MS could get GEoW before they go balls out on development.

It's probably more substantial than that. Their new game was using UE4, so a lot of it was probably familiarizing themselves with the engine and/or optimizing it with the idea that they'd possibly be working on Gears of War in the near future.
 
Most of the talent that made Gears of War already left the company. People Can Fly helped with Gears 2 and 3 and did most of the work on Judgement also lost most of the talent.

To me it seems the sold the IP because they don't have the staff to make those kind of games anymore. So it's a win-win for both parties. Epic got the money for something that they can't make anymore and MS retained a valuable IP for them.

I really have no idea where Epic stands right now. We haven't heard anything about Fortnite, which was announced years ago, and even the Unreal engine isn't pushed like it used to be. It's understandable that their direction may shift given big names like CliffyB and Rod Fergusson left, but we haven't heard ANYTHING from them. It's strange.
 

gemoran4

Member
Good move by Microsoft. Gears of War is still a very valuable IP, and one of the few that has the reputation of being synonymous with the Xbox brand. As for the state of the brand, sure Gears of War: Judgement had a lukewarm reception, but what IP hasn't had a misstep or two? All Microsoft (Or i guess Black Tusk) has to do is release another really good next gen Gears of War game and I think you'll see people flocking back to it.
 

monome

Member
I'm actually interested in speculating now. Rumors were flying some time ago that they were behind in their project. Wonder if they were really behind or not making progress so Microsoft found them something to do.

->MS was probably unsure of the mass appeal Black Tusk new IP had.

a recent hire was for a lead writer for their game, which is pretty late.

They probably have awesome tech, tho.
 

Duxxy3

Member
Without doubt. Halo is this year and Gears will be next year. They will continue that cycle for the next five years or so.

You honestly think this brand new studio can pop out a AAA game in less than two years? My guess is april/may 2016, assuming they started development in late 2013.
 
Good bit of business by MS. The alternative was probably too unpalatable for them to contemplate. Disappointing that a supposedly premier studio at MS will now be wasted on Gears though. The franchise feels done. Sort of like the other GoW, both should have died after the end of their trilogies.
 
By offering bigger money for the rights then Microsoft did?

Why would Sony buy the rights to a series that isn't even established on their platforms? Who would they even have develop the games? Sony has nothing to do with this.

The Gears series was established on Xbox and Epic probably felt that they no longer could continue the series so Microsoft most likely asked if they could buy the rights so that they could continue the series themselves.
 
I think, for the most part, that is exactly what you're going to get. We've seen a new Uncharted announced from Sony and moves like this from Microsoft seem to suggest they're putting all their stock in their established franchises as well.

The reception to Ryse and Knack will do new I.P's no favors in the long run. Since next gen began we've seen what, 4 new I.Ps announced for future games, The Order, Watch Dogs (which isn't looking very good, if I'm honest), Drive Club and Evolve. That's it. All the other announced but unreleased games are established franchises.



We've seen virtually nothing from these games. At least wait until we've seen actual gameplay before claiming these are actually coming out.

Project Spark has been out for about a month now.
 
Yawn. If there's one thing Microsoft need in their exclusive lineup it's more diversity. I feel the money could have been better spent elsewhere instead of even more Gears games. Disappointing.

Also lol at the people asking for remakes of the last gen games. That's even fucking worse :(
 
This thread is SALTY, Gears was one of my favorite franchises last gen, depending on how Black Tusk manages the IP I may have to buy an Xbox again.

It's a good franchise, and the news itself is good. ( new game is always good, rehash, milked or whatever. +1 is better than 0 )

But the fact that Black Tusk is the one tasked to carry the mantle of Gears now... eh, not so much. Even if they do a great job at it, it feels kinda wasted, since they're basically carrying the torch left behind by a different creative force.
 

Effect

Member
Does anybody really care about Gears of War any more? Shouldn't they be putting this series to bed in favor of something new and exciting? What's the point?



Why would that be nice?

I think the possible issue with the last game was that it was a prequel and not a sequel. Also it seemed, from post, it was centered on a character fans simply didn't like. Might have to wait and see if a sequel with different characters does well to determine if people didn't want Judgement and it's story/characters or if they're tired of the series as a whole.
 

Grisby

Member
I want them to take time on the game, craft something special. And for gods sake, don't look to Judgment for MP thoughts.

With that said, I want a new Gears game. One of my favorite series.
 
Surprising and Disappointing.

From the sounds of things Black Tusk is a ultra talented team and Gears of War ran its course so its a shame a talent team is not making something new.

Though epic would have extended the franchises life the cheap and easy way by taking it multi but I guess cashing out works.



Good move on MS's part to buy it though. Just a bummer Black Tusk are doing it.
 
You honestly think this brand new studio can pop out a AAA game in less than two years? My guess is april/may 2016, assuming they started development in late 2013.

Depends on what the story is. If Black Tusk knew all along that they were working on Gears since they were made in 2012, then yes we will play it next year.

If this is new information to Black Tusk, or as discussed in the thread, that they couldn't land on a concept and they are only six or so months into this, then you're probably right in regards to 2016.

But if this is 2016, then the question is what will MS have for next fall since Halo is this year.
 
I'm a fan of Xbox and I'm very disappointed.

This just means one less new IP for this industry. Was hoping for something new for a new generation.

This news doesn't mean that their new ip it's cancelled. ND put out the last of us while planning on Uncharted 4.

Is it?? Let me have a loo...

Oh. I guess there was good reason why I stopped paying attention to this.

If you want a beta key, just ask. But it's probably better not to argue from ignorance when there are dozens of posters here who've already played it and enjoyed it.
 

MCD

Junior Member
It's disappointing to see Black Tusk getting shafted to an old IP but then again we don't know how far did they progress with their game so this might have been the best course of action for the team.
 

Grief.exe

Member
Why would Sony buy the rights to a series that isn't even established on their platforms? Who would they even have develop the games? Sony has nothing to do with this.

The Gears series was established on Xbox and Epic probably felt that they no longer could continue the series so Microsoft most likely asked if they could buy the rights so that they could continue the series themselves.

Why would Sony even want the franchise, the series has already gone downhill. Not much left in the franchise to work with.

New IP would be significantly cheaper and make for a more compelling game.

It's disappointing to see Black Tusk getting shafted to an old IP but then again we don't know how far did they progress with their game so this might have been the best course of action for the team.

I'm not very interested in the XBO in the first place, but a new sci-fi IP from Black Tusk always piqued my interest. Buying up a tired franchise and forcing them into a creative corner? Not interested.
 

Kaswa101

Member
And the Halo-Gears-Fable-Forza cycle continues...

This. Was hoping for a new IP from Black Tusk.

Also, I don't see how this is such a "great IP grab" by MS. The franchise was pretty much killed with Judgement. It wouldn't surprise me at all if this game (or its inevitable sequel) sells terribly. Much like God of War, it needed a long break, but apparently (and not unexpectedly) MS just won't let it go.
 
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