Previously known as Microsoft Vancouver, the company is composed of many ex-EA developers. Black Tusk's stated goal is to create a new Microsoft-published franchise that will become "the next Halo".

So that WAS their stated goal, but now they're doing Gears of War it seems Link

Thoughts, duders?

Could of titled this thread better, but yes the news is correct that Epic sold the Gears of War franchise to Microsoft Studios and that Black Tusk is working on the sequel.

I really don't know what to think.

Thinking about it more, it is a smart move by Microsoft and hopefully they can do the series justice, but that is pretty much wait and see. As for Epic Games, what in the world are they working on? Fortnite? When is that last time we heard anything video game related from them that wasn't People Can Fly related?

I was under the impression that Furgusson would be heading a new studio at 2K. Anyway, I can't say I'm interested in a new Gears, to be honest.

I enjoyed the first 3 gears games a lot (though I never played judgement) but I'm not particularly excited for this, I mean I'm sure when Gears four or whatever they are calling it comes out I'll be eager to see what they do next with the story and the world but in a way I guess I was kind of hoping this new generation would bring with it it's own franchises. Honestly I think in general that's my problem with the releases of these consoles so far, it seems like both platforms are delivering more of the same in a slightly prettier package. I mean sure there will be some older franchises carried over, but I was kind of hoping this would be the fresh start that the previous generations had in a way, a chance for new series and ideas to emerge. That may well happen in time but still, at the moment this new generation hasn't brought that new feeling with it yet.

Hope the next gears is better than judgement.

It will be the first Gears not under the guidance of Epic, which means it has the potential to be more interesting and different than judgement. Don't bet on them straying too far from the look and feel though.

@jimmyfenix: I was listening to Steve Gaynor's Tone Control interview with Tom Bissell. He was alluding to writing another big game up on Vancouver. Would make sense if he was the consistency guy between the last game and whatever the next GoW will be since it seems like most of the other folks including Furgusson are now gone. He didn't mention anything explicitly about the game but the way he talked about Gears and the universe makes me think he's not done with it yet. (Link)

I am beyond excited that Gears gets to continue. Haven't played Judgement nor did I really consider it fully part of the series and seeing Rod return is fantastic news as he was just as influential to the series as Cliff was. I don't think the Gears deal is replacing the IP they showed at E3 though.

I love Gears of War to death. I honestly think however that they should just leave the series where it is. Gears 3 is a solid end to the story. Anyway they conveniently set up a Gears 4 will just bug the hell out of me.

I'm just another fan of Gears chiming in to say it's hard to see where there's room for another game in this franchise. They could go to the "Pendulum Wars" but moving to human on human violence isn't likely to do the series any favors.

I gotta wonder. In this age of focus testing, how is it that they're making sequels to games that no one is asking for?

so microsofts big 2 games will be again halo and gear for the next 6/7 yeas, man i wanted a new ip from black tusk, so after the 15 first year exclusives will get halo, gears, forza, fable the rest of the genaration

Yeah, sorry about that.

Also, kind of with everyone else in that I really like Gears, but I just felt done with the franchise after 3. It left off in a good place, and I don't really see why there should be another one (I have no interest in Judgement, even though I actually like Baird)

So I take it Rod Ferguson isn't working on a rumored 2K open world game anymore.

That super secret 'new' stuff Black Tusk was working on...turned out to be another dudebro Gears of War? What a shame.

Secretly, Epic cloned him and now they're licensing Rod out to wherever, but he comes with the unreal engine. Rod is working on all the games. All of them.

Is that still a thing?

NFL games, Gears games, FIFA games. Nothing wrong with enjoying them with your bro's but I expected more out of Black Tusk.

I am more amazed that Rod Ferguson has been in and out of studios for the past couple of years only to end up back at Gears.

@trafalgarlaw: Lol, what a useful subgenre. Their teaser was literally a dude with a gun and explosions. You're telling me that you wouldn't have called that game dudebro if it became huge? Please.

Yes, yes it is.

I think this is a very good business decision on MS's part. I'll reserve judgement (no pun intended) until I see what they deliver a game or give us some details. There are enough Gears fans out there though that it makes sense to take this from Epic and keep the torch lit.

I like Gears so I'm pleased, now they need to make a good Gears game.

Microsoft continues to have the most uninteresting line up of first party games.

They can still have a "stated goal" and work on Gears games. Just because they are developing the next Gears doesn't mean that's all they're gonna do.

Gears of war: army of two....yeah E.A people on this is not good. Sucks man, gears 3 was so rad.

I wish it was actually a Gears inspired game from a gameplay standpoint, or if it's going to use the Gears name, I just hope that the name is the only solid connection with those games and the direction and style forks in a different way. It feels bad saying that, in one way, because the first Gears of War was the reason I bought a 360. On the other hand, I wore myself out on that franchise after one and a half games (2 didn't grip me nearly as much as the original, and the only reason I played through it a second time was dumb luck because it became a co-op experience with a friend years later).

It makes sense to me. Epic probably wants to put more of its team on engine development, with both new consoles out.

Microsoft wants a team willing to churn out Gears of War games for the Xbox One, and I am guessing Epic doesn't want to be limited to a single platform.

Personally, i'm just excited to see what Epic does, whether it's just Unreal Engine 4, or a new game entirely. They've been spending a lot of money on new talent recently.

Also interested to see what happens with Cliffy B gone. The guy always rubbed me the wrong way, honestly. Between his zealous distaste for the PC when Gears/the 360 got big, and his snarky reactions to people on Twitter over the whole Xbox One DRM thing, I really don't have much respect for his opinions anymore.

@xyzygy said:

Dude, it's Microsoft.

Come on.

@iigrayfoxii: To be fair, Epic does not really work a lot on video games. The big part of their revenue comes from licencing the Unreal engine...

GoW was just a proof of concept of their engine for new consoles that ended up being a successful franchise, but I can see that MS has a lot more interest in having a new Gears of War being exclusive than Epic has in making it.

GoW: Judgment was AWFUL. I greatly enjoyed 1-3, but man, that blew it so bad, especially with the abysmal campaign(I expected better considering Bulletstorm was totally fine). I honestly couldn't care less about the franchise right now. Without Cliffy B., it doesn't feel the same.

Ughhhhhhhh

I liked Gears 1-3, but that series ended for me at 3.

Gears Judgement was unfortunate for sure. I loved 1-3 but out of the 4 gears games only 1 being kinda meh isn't bad by any means. Hopefully with some other people working on it maybe they will be able to breathe new life into that franchise. Super fun co-op games for sure.

The first three games were OK, not great, so I've had my fill of the franchise already. I have no interest in continuing the series on Xbox One.

More reasons for me to not spend a lot of money on a new console. Yay!

1. Bummed that Black Tusk isn't working on an entirely new IP.

2. Incredibly stoked for another Gears title. I recently decided to go through the entire series again starting with Judgment.

My big hope story wise is that they will move away from Marcus and the crew and dive deeper into the war, telling stories from the perspective of other Gears squads. This was a global war and there are plenty of tales to tell and they don't need to have a clean ending like the original Gears trilogy. I would love it if Black Tusk would dive deeper into the dread of how the Locust are winning the war with maybe telling a story of where the Gears failed. Heck I would love to see how UIR tried to fight back against the locast.

Hmm, that's good I guess. Hope they do something neat, but I'm fairly worn by that franchise. They'd really have to mix up the formula to get me interested again.

Fuck yea! They're still doing that weird spy game, so this is still pretty damn cool. :D

Going to be interesting to see how they can justify a new one, narratively speaking least. I'm certainly all for a new Gears-like game, though, as the core gameplay is still cover-based shooting perfection. That and they always make for great games to play in coop. New developer and all that, though, so I wonder if they'd just reboot it, or at least set it somewhere else, on another planet or even far flung into the future. Or as another prequel... when I think about it as long it succeeds in delivering the same tried & true gameplay (with some alterations to account for it being a next-gen sequel), then I'll (probably) be happy.

That Gears is now permanently exclusive to Microsoft is a little disheartening, if also expected. While I'm not currently rushing out to buy a new console, the PS4 will most likely continue to be in the lead. Still, the fact that Gears will continue is still good news. This also makes me all the more curious about The Order 1886, since that's been rumoured to be somewhat Gears-like.

Actually it's Black Tusk :P

If you thought Gears of War was ripe with unwelcome micro-transactions on the Xbox 360, wait 'till you see it on the Xbox One.

So for the next 8-10 years we'll just see more Halo, Gears, Forza, and CoD map packs at the Microsoft E3. Yay.

They are working on Gears of War and New IP too.

It makes sense to me that MS would secure GoW as a legacy franchise but I hope they're smart enough to realize we don't need another one of those games for a few years still. Let it sleep until people actually miss it. Right now it feels so meh.

If it's good, it's good. Ya know?

gears turned to shit when they switched from the no respawns mode to the fuckin call of duty garbage modes.

Can't say I'm super stoked for a new Gears game, not that I'm necessarily against the idea. I mean, I skipped Judgement, so it's not like I'm burnt out on the series. My interest just sort of evaporated after wrapping up Gears 3, despite it being a really solid experience. I'd be willing to jump back in if they did something to entice me. Anyway, I think it's nice that this frees up Epic and Epic Poland (People Can Fly) for something new.

As someone who used to get a serious hard on for the Gears games (Judgment made me soft though) I'm curious to see if MS will continue to play it safe with the franchise and just churn out an extremely familiar, but pretty looking Gears game because if that's the case then no thanks, I already played Gears 3