Phil Spencer, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft Studios, spoke with Kotaku about what’s next for Xbox One, the newly released console. At least one of the things he said might not be very assuring for Xbox fans though, as he reiterated that in no way he can assure anything about Gears of War, since the franchise fully belongs to Epic Games (which, at this time, still remains ominously silent on the subject).
It’s Epic’s franchise. You and I both know that. I can’t make any assurances about anybody else’s franchise. I’m a huge fan of the franchise. I want to continue to work with Gears. I think there’s a lot of life left in that franchise. We had an internal discussion on it even yesterday. It’s something that’s active in discussion about what we can do with Gears. Obviously, I know [Epic's management] Tim Sweeney, Mark Rein, Jay Wilbur incredibly well, so nothing to announce yet and I’d say, yes, there’s nothing even pending that I’m holding to announce, but I understand the importance of the franchise to the Xbox platform and to gamers—I’d say gamers first. It’d be great to do something forward with that franchise.
It looks like even though Microsoft would clearly jump at the opportunity of another entry of Gears of War for Xbox, there is nothing at all to announce or even pending announcement. This could mean one of two things: either Epic Games is creating a different kind of game using another franchise they own (perhaps Unreal) or a completely new one, or a new chapter of Gears of War is indeed coming, just not for Xbox One. This would be the worst possible scenario for Microsoft, although admittedly it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to completely leave the massive crowd of fans they have built over the past generation.
We’ll know fairly soon, I believe, as Epic Games has been very quiet for quite a long time and I don’t think this is going to last much longer. What’s your take on Phil Spencer’s words? Would you feel betrayed if Gears of War appeared on PlayStation 4?
http://www.worldsfactory.net/2013/11/25/phil-spencer-cant-assure-gow-stay-xbox-exclusive
