Black Tusk Studios Shifts Gears To ‘The Coalition’ Ahead Of E3

Microsoft has a habit of naming its studios after the franchises they curate. Black Tusk Studios continues that trend as it is rebranded as “The Coalition” in keeping with the Gears of War franchise theme.

The studio will release their first game ever based on the Gears of War franchise which they are tasked with developing. Originally known as Microsoft Vancouver, the studio changed its name to Black Tusk Studios in November of 2012 when it was tasked with the curation of the Gears of War games after Microsoft purchased the IP from Epic Games. Along with the IP they also brought along Rod Fergusson, who was the executive producer of the first three Gears of War titles while at Epic Games.

Today, on the Xbox Wire, Rod Fergusson announced the name change from Black Tusk Studios to The Coalition. Why the change, you ask? According to Fergusson the name reflects the team more accurately.

“In short, The Coalition speaks to who we are as a team, and what it is we’re working on. A coalition is a team of diverse individuals working together for a common purpose, a concept that we feel describes our studio quite well,” said Fergusson.

It also happens to be a reference to the COG, or “Coalition of Ordered Governments,” that exist in the game’s fictional universe. This falls in line with the naming used by other Microsoft first party studios such as 343 Industries, which handles the Halo franchise and is named after the antagonist “343 Guilty Spark.” Another example is Turn 10 Studios which develops the Forza games.

With E3 2015 right around the corner in June, this announcement is highly suggestive of Microsoft’s overall strategy for their presence at the conference. The debut of the new Gears of War title will likely be shown at the keynote conference along the recently leaked remastering of the original Gears of War title for the Xbox One, which the Inquisitr covered here.

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