I know very little about Epic's financials, however I do know that they are currently only known for two gaming franchises, Gears of War and Unreal Tournament 3. The former recently made Epic a LOT of money both directly in terms of sales, and indirectly in terms of the number of developers that became licencees to their Unreal Engine 3 after seeing Gears of War. The latter, Unreal Tournament 3, just cost Epic what is probably a considerable amount of money when it flopped horribly on the PS3 and PC. Though some of this may be recouperated through a 360 version, it is still unlikely to be profitable.
In my opinion, this is the time for Microsoft to push for Gears of War exclusivity beyond Gears of War 2 (my understanding is that they only have publishing rights for versions 1 & 2). Epic have only two significant properties, one of which has been immensly successful and was developed with large Microsoft input, the other of which may just be pronounced dead after it's abysmal sales. This is the perfect time for Microsoft to step in and offer Epic a little money (to pad their half-yearly bottom-line out after UT3's failure) in return for a couple more exclusive Gears of War games, or perhaps another exclusive IP. Thoughts?
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