Microsoft Game Studios have today announced their acquisition of the Gears of War video game franchise. Exclusive to Xbox consoles, the series launched in 2006 with the 360's system-seller Gears of War, an instant hit with FPS fans that was soon followed up by two sequels and a prequel instalment, Gears of War: Judgement, all of which were developed by Epic Games.
After an entire decade at the rein, though, followers of Marcus Fenix's increasingly life-threatening missions to save the dystopian world of Sera will forgive Epic for seeking pastures new. Last year's Judgement represented a step backwards for the franchise, ditching the previously non-linear structure of the main trilogy in favour of disjointed, pseudo-episodic confrontations which lacked the finesse of their predecessors. As such, Microsoft's acquisition of the po-faced saga under their 'MGS' moniker bodes extremely well, since rather than taking on future sequels themselves, they've handed the franchise to Black Tusk Studios. An untested but unmistakably potent team of developers, Black Tusk have the rare opportunity to overhaul the franchise's mechanics, narrative strands and overall direction in days to come, and with Gears 1-3's executive producer Rod Fergusson on board, it's difficult to imagine what could possibly go wrong.
Gears of War for Xbox One (as the world will call it until we hear otherwise) will retail exclusively on Xbox One in 2016.
No comments:
Post a Comment