All Articles: Gears of War 4

Microsoft and The Coalition have announced that Gears of War 4 will be released exclusively for the Xbox One on October 11. Set 25 years after the events of Gears of War 3, the fourth game in the series will star Marcus’s son, JD Fenix, and a new generation of Gears, as they battle “a fearsome new threat.”

The Coalition has several Gears 4 events planned for the next few weeks that should help fans get excited for the reemergence of the franchise. A countdown clock on the game’s official website is currently ticking away and will expire on April 10 at 9:10 PM (Eastern Time). What will we learn later this week? Your guess is as good as mine.

However, we do know that the Gears of War 4 beta will kick off on April 18. Players who previously purchased the Gears of War: Ultimate Edition on the Xbox One or PC will be able to join up for two weeks of intense multiplayer testing. The beta will expand to include all Xbox Live Gold subscribers on April 25.

And don’t forget, Microsoft will bring a playable demo of Gears 4 (and “some special surprises”) to this year’s PAX East convention, which opens April 22.

Jack Felling, a developer at Black Tusk Studios, has given us our first look at the upcoming Gears of War 4. Apparently, the motion capture shoot for the Xbox One game just wrapped up, so Felling tweeted out a picture of an actor holding the game’s signature weapon, the chainsaw-tipped Lancer:

Last day of the shoot… One of the actors in a mocap suit! #MotionCapture #Props #MarkerBalls @GearsofWar pic.twitter.com/4mCU8VQA3P

— JackFelling (@btjackfelling) March 28, 2015

Development on Gears of War 4 (which is currently a working title for the game) began in January 2014. With all the motion capture work done, Black Tusk has clearly made some decent progress on the game over the last 15 months, but it’s likely still a ways from completion. Who knows, maybe we’ll hear more about Gears of War 4 at this year’s E3 Expo…

Rod Fergusson, the Studio Manager at Gears of War 4 developer Black Tusk Studios, wants to reintroduce the Gears of War franchise to its roots. The developer relayed fears that the franchise has lost its way to Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft’s Xbox Division, who in turn discussed the future of the series with IGN on their Podcast Unlocked podcast:

The Head of Xbox told IGN that, in discussions with Rod Fergusson, who’s in charge of Gears of War at Black Tusk Studios, he’s talked about Gears of War becoming “a parody of itself” over time. “Not for any horrible reasons,” but because managing success over time is challenging.

Spencer and Fergusson have also discussed “getting back to something,” he continued. “I think [about] the story and the setting and what they’re going through as a band. Gears of War, the name really meant something to what that game was about. We need to get back to that.” He also reiterated that the next Gears of War is not a reboot.

If anyone understands the soul of the Gears of War franchise, its Fergusson. Before leaving Irrational late last year, the developer was employed by Epic and contributed to the first three Gears of War games.

Development on Gears of War 4 (or whatever the next Gears of War game will be called) began when Microsoft purchased the rights to the franchise from Epic Games. But just how early in the development cycle is Black Tusk Studios? Studio Manager Rod Fergusson recorded the company’s first Live Podcast to tell us about it.

According to Ferguson, development on Gears of War 4 is in the “concept/prototype stage.” He further explained: “It’s only been 100 days. I can’t go into a lot of depth about a lot of things. This isn’t going to be the place where I announce the name of the next game and all these sorts of things. Obviously it’s going to take some time to get to a point where we can do some stuff like that.”

One takeaway from Fergusson’s first public address should be that Gears of War 4 likely won’t appear at this year’s E3 Expo in any capacity.

But he also sounded enthusiastic about the future of the franchise, saying that he’s a fan of the game’s universe, but that fun trumps lore established in books or comics: “I believe fun is greater than canon. That’s not to say I’m going out of my way to destroy canon, but if I get to a situation that may invalidate a comic book or a book, I’m going to make that fun decision.”

Part of this enthusiasm is due to the fact that most of the developers at Black Tusk have never developed a Gears game before. Fergusson is thrilled that they can bring a fresh eye to a franchise that is pretty set in its ways.

But the developer is also happy about Microsoft’s commitment to Gears, especially the monetary one: “We’re able to push a lot harder in a lot of bigger areas. The franchise can do a lot more now that Microsoft owns the IP; we can expand it’s breadth and do a lot more with it.”