Gears of War Rights Acquired by Microsoft

Development duties handed to Black Tusk Studios.

Microsoft has bought the rights to the Gears of War franchise from Epic Games, and handed development duties to Black Tusk Studios.
The move means the series will remain an Xbox-exclusive. As part of the deal Rod Ferguson, former director of production of the series at Epic, will join Microsoft and help the team at Black Tusk out.

"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," a statement reads. "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."

Black Tusk has assembled a world-class team with deep experience and passion for the shooter space.

Black Tusk Studios opened its doors in late 2012, when Microsoft Vancouver underwent a rebrand. While we don't know what it's been working on since, at the time it was tasked with creating "the next Halo".
Microsoft's Phil Spencer commented on the decision to hand Black Tusk the reigns to the series, saying, "Black Tusk has assembled a world-class team with deep experience and passion for the shooter space, and specifically the Gears of War franchise."
Epic founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said, "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. Epic remains totally dedicated to supporting Xbox One and is licensing the Unreal Engine 4 technology to Microsoft in support of their future projects."

No news was given when we should expect to see a new entry in the series, or what platforms such a title would be on.