‘Gears Of War’ Xbox One Developer Talks ‘Betrayal’
The Gears of War Xbox One release is destined to be rife with “betrayal” for fans, but the developer means it as a positive. Previous games in the series were very graphically similar, enough that from an outside perspective, they all look the same. The story was what set the series apart from the rest, being a modern tale about an alien invasion and a group of military hard cases tasked with fending it off.
Black Tusk Studios head Rod Fergussen stated that the next game will need to be different, but not so much that gamers don’t recognize it. Being the first release on Xbox One, it will definitely need more than any of the previous titles gave us.
Gears of War Dev Must ‘Betray’ Fans to Innovate #XBOXONE http://t.co/SMP3b3Fj1q
— NextGenGamer (@_Next_Gen_Gamer) May 27, 2014
For some gamers, the idea that a Gears of War Xbox One followup is being made is a betrayal all by itself. The story was wrapped up rather nicely with Gears of War: Judgment, and fans mostly believe that it can’t be expanded on without being contrived.
Fergussen told the press:
“This isn’t a great way of phrasing it but I always talk about shipping a sequel to customers as ‘managing betrayal’. They want something new but they don’t want something so new that it doesn’t feel like what they want. But if you put out something that’s very familiar and is the same as the game they just had, then it’s like ‘I’ve already had this. This isn’t new enough.’
“You actually have to betray them enough to give them something new and surprising but not so much that they disconnect, and I think that is a big thing that we have to focus on. It’s how we can innovate and bring something new to the franchise while at the same time really proving that we understand Gears – that this is the franchise that you know and love.
“So I’ve already given multiple speeches to the team like ‘here are the core tenets of Gears, here are the things that won’t be changing, and here are opportunities for us to innovate that we think we can knock out of the park.'”
The existence of Gears of War on Xbox One means that blowing our minds with what they come up with is hardly a question. It’s just what needs to be done. It needs to show us that it can’t be done on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.
What do you think Black Tusk Studios should do with the Gears of War Xbox One sequel?
[image via geekbinge]
