Microsoft has acquired the rights to the Gears of War franchise from Epic Games, the company announced today. The acquisition includes rights to all existing and future games, entertainment experiences and merchandise. Microsoft also announced that Black Tusk Studios, based in Vancouver, BC, will take over development of the Gears of War franchise.
Former Director of Production at Epic Games, Rod Fergusson, will join the team and play a key studio leadership role at Black Tusk on the development of the Gears of War franchise going forward.
The Gears of War franchise has sold over 22-million units worldwide, grossing over $1 billion and Microsoft considers the franchise a “part of the soul of Xbox.” According to Microsoft, Epic will remain partners with Microsoft and will be working closely to ensure the inclusion of the Unreal Engine into future Gears of War games.
“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.”
More news about new Gears of War games will be coming later this year.
Source: Xbox Wire
