Epic Games Vice President Mark Rein has dismissed rumors that Gears of War 3 is already in production and will be released in time for Christmas 2010.
CVG reported yesterday that the latest issue of EGM magazine is carrying the news that the third installment in the Gears of War franchise is already “well underway,” and will hit store shelves in time for Christmas 2010. The article also claims the game will feature “five player co-op,” presumably as part of the main campaign.
But Rein denied the whole thing earlier today, telling Eurogamer that the report was “total nonsense.” He added that the studio was busy “working on improvements to Gears 2.”
Nothing to see here, then, beyond the usual ritual mating dance of rumors, denials and debates about which side is more likely to be shoveling the crap. But doesn’t this have a vague familiarity to it, a certain sense of deja-vu? Have we, in fact, been down this road before?
Return with me now to early 2008, February to be precise, when Gamepro magazine made its predictions for the top shooters of 2008, and also happened to carry a special report on the upcoming Gears of War 2. What do you suppose Mr. Rein had to say about that?
“It is complete nonsense,” he wrote in a post on the official Gears of War forums. “We have not announced a sequel to Gears of War to Gamepro or anyone else for that matter.” Even better, he revealed later in the same thread that Epic was hard at work on a patch for Gears of War.
Obviously, the only real question here is one of timing: Both Gears of War and Gears of War 2 were multi-million-selling hit releases, so Gears of War 3 isn’t a matter of “if,” but “when.”
