I går kveld dukket det opp litt mer informasjon rundt det faktum at Microsoft har kjøpt Gears of War-serien. Blant annet har Twitter-kontoen @XboxJobs i to innlegg (det første og det andre) forklart at utvikleren Black Tusk Studios jobbet med en helt ny spillserie allerede fra de ble grunnlagt for omtrent ett år siden. Det er foreløpig uklart hva de skal gjøre med dette prosjektet, men forhåpentligvis vil de dele arbeidsstokken i to.
Videre har en av Gears of War-skaperne, Cliff Bleszinski, uttalt seg om oppkjøpet og hans eventuelle deltakelse i utviklingen av det nye Gears of War-spillet. Han slår fast at han ikke kommer til å ha noe med det å gjøre, hverken som utvikler eller konsulent. Dette er hva han hadde å si om oppkjøpet, som han forøvrig kjente til på forhånd:
Friends,
Waking up today I was drowning in a deluge of emails, tweets, direct messages and smoke signals.
My former employer has sold the Gears of War IP/franchise to Microsoft and my friend Rod Fergusson is going to be working on it.
To be honest, I don't think the franchise could be in better hands. Heck, Rod's Twitter handle, to this day, is "Gears Viking." Gears is just as much Rod's baby as it was mine. He'll take good care of her. (Rod, I owe you a girly drink at GDC.)
Phil Spencer went out of his way to give me a phone call to inform me of the transaction last week. Phil, you didn't have to do that, you're a gentleman. I appreciate it; that goes a long way. 343 knocked it out of the park with Halo and I think Black Tusk will do a fantastic job with Gears.
I suppose this puts the nail in the coffin of the question "Will Gears ever come to Playstation?"
Safe to say that's not likely to happen. (Besides, it gives me something to look forward to on Xbox One besides Titanfall and Project Spark...oh and more Halo, of course.)
Now that that's out of the way...
I'm not going to move to Vancouver and work on it.
I'm not going to consult on it.
My headspace is in the future now, not the past. I have come to realize that until you give people something new to focus on they will obsess about the past. (good problem to have!)
To those of you who love Gears, I love you as well, and I appreciate your support through the years. The fandom, the cosplay, the tattoos, it all means more than any amount of money could ever mean.
These recent events have steeled my resolve to make something entirely new.
Time for new cosplay, new tattoos, new fandom.
Fingers crossed there will be news soon.
Stay tuned.
Love,
Clifford
Til slutt har Phil Spencer hos Microsoft avslørt at det så langt har blitt solgt 22 millioner spill fra Gears of War-serien. Dette er fordelt på fire spill medregnet Judgment som ikke ble noen spesiell suksess. Det er uansett imponerende tall, og det er lett å forstå at Microsoft ønsker at serien fortsetter som en Xbox-eksklusiv.