Microsoft Buys Gears of War Franchise From Epic Games

Microsoft has purchased the Gears of War IP from Epic Games, the software giant announced today.

Development of the series will continue at Black Tusk Studios, Microsoft’s new outfit located in Vancouver, B.C. Microsoft has also hired as producer Rod Ferguson, the series’ former director of production at Epic Games.

“Black Tusk has assembled a world-class team with deep experience and passion for the shooter space, and specifically the Gears of War franchise,” Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s head of game studios, said in a statement. “I am extremely confident that under the leadership of Hanno Lemke (of Black Tusk), Rod Fergusson and our other leaders in the studio, Black Tusk is well equipped to take on the future development of the Gears of War franchise.

Said Epic Games in a statement:

Epic Games has reached an agreement to sell the ‘Gears of War’ intellectual property rights to Microsoft. 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.

Expect the next Gears of War title to come exclusively to Xbox One, sometime in the future.