Games Thirst – Amazing Life
The title is straight forward enough, isn’t it? I hope so, because I’m about to speculate about the next entry in the Gears of War franchise, which is bound to be available in the near future, being released not only for the next Xbox, but also for Sony’s PlayStation 4. It’s a real possibility, and E3 would be a nice place for Sony to cause a stir.
So why would I even speculate something like this? I mean, Gears of War has only been available forever as an exclusive on Microsoft’s consoles. Why would it suddenly appear on Sony’s PS4? Because of the sudden, drastic changes at Epic Games. From mid to late last year, all of the studio’s mainstays have been leaving – I’m talking about the people who founded the studio, and those who made it a household name. In October 2012, Cliff Bleszinski announced he was leaving Epic Games after 20 years with the company. In December 2012, Epic Games president Mike Capps announced his retirement and cite the reasons as the arrival of a baby boy he is having with his wife and his plans to be a stay-at-home-dad. And last month Epic Games marketing chief Kendall Boyd left to become marketing boss at Microsoft for Halo. There’s an exodus taking place at Epic Games and that’s because Tencent, a mammoth Chinese company, bought a 40 percent stake in Epic Games for $330 million. It’s only natural that the people with stock in the company, who instantly became a lot wealthier than they’d ever been, would retire, go try something of their own, or move to another company for a new experience. A changing of the guards has and still is taking place at Epic, and so will alignments and loyalties.
Some may say that the main reason Gears of War is an Xbox exclusive is because of Microsoft’s deep pockets. Yes, it may be the main reason but not the only one… It’s no secret that the franchise’s creative director Cliff Bleszinski isn’t a big PS3 fan, and has always complained about the PS3′s controller. It’s no secret that the relationship between all the executives who left Epic Games and Microsoft was a close one. Tencent is a Chinese company that’s heavily invested in online gaming. A company that saw a strategic opportunity in Epic Games and made its move. What Tencent says holds a lot of weight around Epic Games’ offices these days.
If the firm believes that having Gears of War as an Xbox exclusive is no longer a smart business strategy, and Microsoft isn’t willing to dig deeper into its pockets, PlayStation gamers might finally enjoy the award-winning third-person shooter on their platform of choice. And now with both PS4 and the next Xbox being almost identical in architectural build, it’d be very cheap to make the game a multiplatform title.
But will Microsoft allow this to happen? I doubt it. What with rumors claiming that the software giant is six months behind Sony when it comes having ready next gen games for their respective consoles, it’d be very surprising if the firm allowed Gears of War to go multiplatform.
Nonetheless Gears of War on PS4 is a possibility. A possibility we just might realize at this year’s E3, or sometime next year.
Does this make sense to you? Share your thoughts in the comments.
