Games By Matthew Humphries Jan. 29, 2014 1:59 pm
The announcement earlier this week that Microsoft had acquired the full rights to the Gears of War franchise from Epic Games was a very positive move. The series is a system seller, having already gone past 22 million games sold. But anyone hoping for a new and exclusive Gears of War title in 2014 is going to be sorely disappointed. Even a 2015 release seems unlikely.
The reason for this is simply down to development time. A game of the quality and scope of a Gears of War experience needs at least 18 months to develop, but anything up to 3 years is deemed acceptable. It all depends on how big the game is. The original Gears of War was released in 2006, Gears of War 2 in 2008, and Gears of War 3 in 2011.
Inevitably Phil Spencer, Microsoft Studios Head, got asked on Twitter how long Black Tusk Studios had been working on the next entry in the series. Surprisingly he answered, stating they’d only been on it a week, although the management team had been discussing it for a month.
With that in mind, and the time frame required for previous Gears of War game development, it seems very unlikely the Xbox One will have a Gears game on shelves before 2016. In fact, the original Gears of War was released on November 7 in 2006, so that may be the date Microsoft is aiming for in 2016. That way they can use the whole 10 year anniversary of the series for marketing and tie in some events/special editions.
2016 may look like a long way off, but it could work out quite well for Microsoft. They need big hits throughout the life of the console, and you can’t get much bigger than a Gears of War game. If they can work other exclusives into the calendar regularly between now and when this game ships, it should help to keep the hardware moving off store shelves at a decent rate.
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The reason for this is simply down to development time. A game of the quality and scope of a Gears of War experience needs at least 18 months to develop, but anything up to 3 years is deemed acceptable. It all depends on how big the game is. The original Gears of War was released in 2006, Gears of War 2 in 2008, and Gears of War 3 in 2011.
Inevitably Phil Spencer, Microsoft Studios Head, got asked on Twitter how long Black Tusk Studios had been working on the next entry in the series. Surprisingly he answered, stating they’d only been on it a week, although the management team had been discussing it for a month.
With that in mind, and the time frame required for previous Gears of War game development, it seems very unlikely the Xbox One will have a Gears game on shelves before 2016. In fact, the original Gears of War was released on November 7 in 2006, so that may be the date Microsoft is aiming for in 2016. That way they can use the whole 10 year anniversary of the series for marketing and tie in some events/special editions.
2016 may look like a long way off, but it could work out quite well for Microsoft. They need big hits throughout the life of the console, and you can’t get much bigger than a Gears of War game. If they can work other exclusives into the calendar regularly between now and when this game ships, it should help to keep the hardware moving off store shelves at a decent rate.
More...
