Microsoft Studios has announced via Xbox Wire that they have acquired the rights to the Gears of War Franchise.
In the announcement Microsoft studios revealed a few things. Black Tusk Studios, Microsoft’s studio in Vancouver will be taking over and that Rod Fergusson will still be leading the charge.
“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.”
Epic Games also shared the following statement.
“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.”
One last tidbit of information that was revealed by Hanno Lemke, general manager of Black Tusk studios. Stated that “We hope to be able to share more news about “Gears of War” later this year.”
You can read the full article here, that discusses the more finer details and addressing the concerns of the fans.
Black Tusk is still a new studio that has yet to release a title, so it wouldn’t surprise me if fans are a bit skeptical to say the least. I feel that the franchise is in good hands. Black Tusk is a subsidiary of Microsoft Studios, surely they understand the value of the franchise.
Here’s to the future!
