Apr 7, 2011 07:45 GMT  ·  By

The Gears of War franchise, the massively popular Xbox 360 exclusive third-person shooter, will see its universe continue to be developed past the third game that will be launched this fall.

The Gears of War series was planned as a trilogy, but this doesn't mean that the universe of the franchise won't continue after the arrival of the third game, later this year.

According to Gears of War 3 executive producer Rod Fergusson, the new game will "answer all of the questions, bring the story to a closure and go out with a huge bang," but this doesn't mean that it's the end of the series once and for all.

"We're not blowing up the world so Sera and the Gears universe will live on, but for us we didn't want to betray our customers and community by having a cliff-hanger ending where you're like 'argh I just got duped, now I've gotta wait until the next game'," Fergusson told CVG. "We wanted to have closure, we wanted people to have some satisfaction that they were along for this ride and they lived through a story."

Fergusson's words are backed up by a previous statement from Epic Games President Mike Capps, who said that, while the story of Marcus Fenix is a trilogy, the universe has more than enough room to accommodate more games in the series.

As for Gears of War 3, Fergusson is adamant that this will be the best title in the franchise, as it has all of the right features to make it a classic for any true Xbox 360 gamer.

"We're bringing the biggest campaign with ever made, we're bringing Horde, we're bringing Beast, we're bringing a really deep multiplayer with rewards and unlocks and thousands of hours of gameplay," he said. "To me this is the best Gears that Epic has ever made. It's a no-brainer - it's the game you have to get."

Gears of War 3 is out on September 20, exclusively for the Xbox 360, but a multiplayer online beta will be kicked off next week, on April 16, for Bulletstorm Epic Edition owners, and on April 25 for those who pre-ordered Gears of War 3.