Cliff Bleszinski, who created and designed the Gears of War series at Epic Games before departing the company, has said the franchise–which is now owned by Microsoft–needs “a little bit of a reboot.” Speaking to ComicBook, Bleszinski said the Gears franchise needs a reboot similar to what God of War had recently with its 2018 game.
Bleszinski went on to say that Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has his phone number and he is “happy to consult” on any future Gears game. Bleszinski went on to say the Gears franchise remains “near and dear” to his heart, and he still goes back and watches scenes from the series on YouTube every so often. He said he’s proud of what he helped to create with the popular series.
“Yeah, I like money. Who doesn’t? I like to eat prime rib steak and sushi sometimes, but you just want to know that your work makes [an impact]. Reading the comments on those cut scenes from Gears of War when Dom dies, people are like, ‘I had to put the controller down, my friend and I just sat there silenced and stunned,'” Bleszinski said. “For people to actually get tattoos of something that you made on their bodies is the most flattering thing.”
Microsoft acquired the Gears series from Epic in 2014 and went put its team, The Coalition, to work on the franchise. It has so far released mainline entries in the series including Gears of War 4 and Gears 5. The Coalition is reportedly working on Gears 6 now.
Sony’s 2018 God of War reboot was a critical and a commercial success, and it spawned a sequel, God of War Ragnarok in 2022. These games helped to reinvigorate the God of War series and help push it ahead in new ways. This was the end of the God of War Norse series, but given the huge success of the series, no one should be surprised if the franchise returns.
As for Bleszinski, he started a new company, Boss Key, after departing Epic Games. The studio released LawBreakers, but it failed to find an audience, and the game shut down. The studio closed, too. Bleszinski is now working on a comic series called Scrapper.
