14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft's big game announcement for today, January 27, has just been made, as the company confirmed that it's bought the rights to the Gears of War franchise from Epic Games and that it's tasked the new Black Tusk studio with creating a new installment in the series.
The Gears of War franchise became a staple of the Xbox 360 console many years ago, delivering great installments and amazing millions of gamers worldwide.
Even so, the franchise was still owned by Epic Games, an independent developer, who could decide to bring it to other platforms, like the PS3 or PS4, if it wanted.
As such, Microsoft has now confirmed that it's acquired the rights to the franchise from Epic for an undisclosed amount of money.
"Today we're excited to announce that Microsoft Studios has acquired the rights to the Gears of War franchise from Epic Games, including rights to all existing and future games, entertainment experiences and merchandise," the company said in a statement on the Xbox Wire.
What's more, the Redmond-based giant has already tasked its recently formed Black Tusk Studios team in Vancouver with the creation of a new Gears of War game, and it has even brought in Rod Fergusson to help out.
"In addition, we are excited to announce that Black Tusk Studios in Vancouver, BC will take over development of the Gears of War franchise and that Rod Fergusson, former Director of Production at Epic Games on the Gears of War franchise, will join Microsoft and play a key studio leadership role at Black Tusk on the development of the franchise going forward," the company added.
Epic Games is also thrilled with the new transaction, confirming that it's already licensed to Microsoft the new Unreal Engine 4 technology in order to power the next Gears of War game.
"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."
Microsoft has promised that it's going to reveal more details about the new Gears of War game in the future.