Epic Games Vice President Mark Rein says that despite the enthusiasm that flowed out of last weekend’s New York Comic Con, there isn’t actually a “ten-year plan” for the Gears of War franchise.
Speaking to fans at the New York Comic Con, Gears scriptwriter Joshua Ortega implied that Epic had long-term plans for Gears of War. “You will not be disappointed in the next ten years,” Ortega said. “It’s a ten-year plan. Gears is long-term. The lancer is the new lightsaber.” When asked about the potential for new DLC that would remedy the unsatisfying conclusion of Gears 2, he added, “Keep watching. You won’t be disappointed.”
But it turns out that you may in fact be disappointed, because according to Mark Rein no such plan actually exists. “No, we do not [have a ten-year plan],” Rein told VG247. “In this industry you can’t plan games very far in advance. We appreciate the enthusiasm Josh has for our franchise but we don’t have a ten-year plan.”
“We always have ideas of where we’d like it to go but it’s determined on a game-by-game basis and ultimately by fan support. Our focus right now is supporting the Gears of War 2 game and community,” he said. “We’re working on the next title update for Gears of War 2 right now. When this title update is done we’ll start planning the next title update for Gears of War 2.”
Epic will, of course, continue to develop the Gears franchise for the foreseeable future and to suggest otherwise is like suggesting that George Lucas won’t somehow attempt to further crappify the Star Wars franchise at some point down the road. The fact that it’s inevitable doesn’t mean there’s some kind of far-reaching master plan in place, and while the lancer may in fact be the next lightsaber someday, it looks like Josh may have gotten a bit ahead of himself on this one.
