Rod Fergusson may have originally planned to lead a new studio under the 2K Games banner in San Francisco, but as Microsoft’s recent purchase of the Gears of War franchise rights from Epic Games indicated, he would instead be returning to the series as part of the company. Serving as a producer on Gears of War, Fergusson explained to Polygon why he decided to return to Gears of War after all this time.
“Honestly, because I missed it. As a player, I’ve never had a better gaming experience than when I was playing Gears with my friends — especially Gears 2 Horde Mode. And as a creator, I was part of the birthing process of this franchise and it made me sad that it wasn’t going to move beyond what we had accomplished. Dammit, I want to play the next Gears game right now! What’s the old line? ‘If you want something done right, do it yourself.’ So when the opportunity came, I grabbed it.
Fergusson also listed the benefits of the deal, adding that the team at Black Tusk were a talented bunch. “First it’s a homecoming on many levels — returning to my Canadian homeland after 15 years, returning to Microsoft where my games career got started and of course coming home to making my favorite franchise of all time — Gears of War. Second, I was really impressed with the extremely talented team of people at Black Tusk and I’m really looking forward to working with them to move Gears forward. And third, I never really felt that I was done with Gears and so I was really excited to continue what we started. I have a lot of great ideas of how we can grow the franchise.”
As soon as he signed the deal though, Fergusson immediately left for Vancouver to assist Black Tusk. “There’s a lot of work to be done and we wanted to get started as soon as possible so as soon as the ink was dry, I boarded an airplane to Vancouver.”
He didn’t reveal if any the former Gears designers would be joining in or whether Black Tusk was properly equipped to handle the franchise though. For now, we’ll have to wait and see just what form Gears will take on the Xbox One.
