{"id":7597,"date":"2014-01-28T10:00:31","date_gmt":"2014-01-28T18:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/forbiddenpanel.com\/PanelCast\/?p=7597"},"modified":"2014-01-28T10:01:18","modified_gmt":"2014-01-28T18:01:18","slug":"microsoft-studios-acquires-rights-to-gears-of-war-franchise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/forbiddenpanel.com\/PanelCast\/microsoft-studios-acquires-rights-to-gears-of-war-franchise\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Studios acquires rights to Gears of War franchise"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Today we’re excited to announce that Microsoft Studios has acquired the rights to the \u201cGears of War\u201d 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 \u201cGears of War\u201d franchise and that Rod Fergusson, former Director of Production at Epic Games on the \u201cGears of War\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Why did Microsoft purchase the \u201cGears of War\u201d franchise?<\/p>\n

Phil Spencer: It all comes back to our commitment to Xbox fans. The \u201cGears of War\u201d franchise has a very strong, passionate and valued fan base on Xbox. Over twenty-two million units have been sold across all \u201cGears of War\u201d 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 \u201cGears of War\u201d universe.<\/p>\n

Why did Epic Games agree to this acquisition?<\/p>\n

Hanno Lemke: Epic has been a tremendous partner to work with, and it has been a privilege for Microsoft to be Epic\u2019s publishing partner and work together to achieve the phenomenal success of the \u201cGears of War\u201d games.\u00a0 Epic remains great partners and good friends of Microsoft Studios. \u00a0In fact we will collaborate closely with Epic to ensure the inclusion of the Unreal Engine technology into the \u201cGears of War\u201d franchise going forward remains consistent with the high quality fans have come to expect from the franchise.<\/p>\n

Why was an as-yet-unproven studio like Black Tusk chosen to lead the \u201cGears of War\u201d development over a more established studio?<\/p>\n

Phil Spencer: Black Tusk has assembled a world-class team with deep experience and passion for the shooter space, and specifically the \u201cGears of War\u201d franchise.\u00a0 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 \u201cGears of War\u201d franchise.<\/p>\n

Are there plans to bring anyone who worked on previous \u201cGears of War\u201d games onboard to work on the future of the series?<\/p>\n

Hanno Lemke: The news that Rod Fergusson is joining Black Tusk should be really exciting for fans of the franchise.\u00a0 Rod has played a leadership role at Epic on all of the \u201cGears of Wars\u201d games, he understands the franchise deeply but equally importantly he understands the fans of the franchise \u2013 what they love, where they want to see the franchise evolve.\u00a0 Once the news spreads about the opportunities at Black Tusk, I\u2019m confident we\u2019ll see interest from a number of talented developers who share the same passion for the \u201cGears\u201d franchise as the developers at Black Tusk.<\/p>\n

When can we expect to hear more about the plans for the \u201cGears of War\u201d franchise?<\/p>\n

Hanno Lemke: We hope to be able to share more news about \u201cGears of War\u201d later this year.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re moving back to Canada and back to working on the \u201cGears\u201d franchise. Is it like a homecoming for you?<\/p>\n

Rod Fergusson: I\u2019m extremely excited to be joining Black Tusk Studios to oversee development on the \u201cGears of War\u201d franchise. I\u2019ve been privileged to work on a lot of great games with a lot of great teams, but \u201cGears\u201d has had the most impact on me professionally and personally, so this really feels like a homecoming. I can\u2019t wait to share more with you all soon.<\/p>\n

Finally, Epic games shared the following statement on the acquisition:<\/p>\n

\u201cEpic Games has reached an agreement to sell the \u2018Gears of War\u2019 intellectual property rights to Microsoft. \u00a0We\u2019re 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 \u2018Gears\u2019 universe on their industry-leading platforms\u00a0as Epic concentrates its efforts on new projects,\u201d said Epic founder and CEO Tim Sweeney. \u201cEpic remains totally dedicated to supporting Xbox One and is licensing the Unreal Engine 4 technology to Microsoft in support of their future projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

via Microsoft Studios acquires rights to Gears of War franchise<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today we’re excited to announce that Microsoft Studios has acquired the rights to the \u201cGears of War\u201d 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 \u201cGears of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1opIU-1Yx","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17615,"url":"http:\/\/forbiddenpanel.com\/PanelCast\/gears-of-war-gets-netflix-movie-tv-show\/","url_meta":{"origin":7597,"position":0},"title":"‘Gears of War’ Gets Netflix Movie, TV Show","author":"Forbidden Panel","date":"November 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cGears of War,\u201d one of the most popular Xbox video game series of all time, is expanding to\u00a0Netflix. 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