Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski is ready to leave the series behind him. When Xbox began, it needed some sort of breakout franchise in order to be able to compete with Sega, Nintendo, and Sony. It found that in Halo and it made tons of people shuffle toward the Xbox. It wasn't the only exclusive game that Xbox had, but it was certainly the biggest. When the Xbox 360 came around, Microsoft was aware that it would need something in addition to Halo to showcase its first-party efforts. That's how we ended up with Gears of War from Epic Games and it resulted in Microsoft having two of the most renowned shooter franchises in gaming as exclusive franchises. After Gears of War 3, it was clear Epic Games and creator Cliff Bleszinski was ready to put the series to bed, but obviously Microsoft wanted to keep it going since it was a cash cow.

The series moved over to a new studio known as The Coalition where they have put out two new mainline games and it's expected there will be a sixth game in the coming years. With that said, Bleszinski hasn't worked on a Gears game since Gears of War 3. He was busy working on other projects both in and out of gaming. He has made it clear that if Microsoft wanted to bring him back for consultation work, he would do it. He has ideas for the Gears of War series and believes it needs a soft-reboot in the vein of God of War, something that seemingly tonally and spiritually reinvents it while keeping the story going. With that said, after receiving tons of questions about the games from fans for years, Bleszinski has authored a statement urging fans to let him move on. He noted that he respects that Gears is a big piece of his legacy and is still down to consult, he believes it is "time to move on" and wants to be recognized for his other works, such as his new comic book series Scrapper.

A statement. pic.twitter.com/Hvpq9IsQW2

— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) January 27, 2024

Of course, it doesn't seem like Bleszinski is asking fans to forget that he ever worked on Gears or to never talk about it again, but it does probably get annoying to be asked to return to a series that one left behind over a decade ago. Whether Cliff Bleszinski ever gets the call to return to Gears of War remains to be seen, but at the moment, he is focused on a number of other passions and creative opportunities.

Posted: Jan 30, 2024 10:58 am
Related Forum: Xbox Forum

Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/gears-of-war-cliff-bleszinski-move-on-xbox/