Quinn leaves Epic/Gears of war
#1
Fri, 02/01/2013 - 18:20
Quinn leaves Epic/Gears of war
Another big loss inside the Gears dev family. Gotta wonder WTF is going on inside Epic. Obviously a lot of people outright disagree with whatever Microsoft and/or Sweeny are pushing on them.
Pleased to say that I'm leaving a great franchise for another awesome one in Halo. Going to Seattle to join the multiplayer team at 343."
Was Just going to post about this That makes what 4 now who's next ? Pete . It's not looking good for gears right now or epic makes you think what kind of turd is GOWJ going to be no matter how munch you polish a turd it's still a turd. As it stands right now I'm thinkig Gears is dead. and we won't see a new one for next gen but who knows. I'm still going to pick it up but I have little hope for it.
I think gears as we know it is probably dead. It'll no doubt continue on because it's a billion dollar franchise but I think it'll continue to move towards a more main stream run of the mill shooter like everyone else is trying to be, a cod clone.
But ya it's been 4 big names gone, not just worker bee coders, these guys were the visionaries and decision makers for the franchise.
March is the 'problem child' month for games. Tomb Raider, delayed again and again for 18 months. Bioshock Infinite, numerous delays and staff turnover (Rod is now working on this project from Epic) and Gears judgement, being forced out of the womb pre-maturely and handed over to a foster family to raise.
I'm wondering if any games in March are really worth my 60 bucks. Maybe i'll just play the new SimCity on PC and entertain myself reading all the forum bitching on how shitty all these games turned out LoL
Well, without any insider knowledge, one can't assume it's because of any pressure from the Epic higher ups or Microsoft.
Cliffy B has really only worked at Epic in his career, and that was for 20 years. I mean, Gears 1 came out in 2005, so that's close to 10 years with one franchise. Anyone would be burnt out after that. And dude can basically write his own ticket now.
I live fairly close to Epics HQ and have toured it several times, and my younger brother worked there as a graphics intern last summer. He stated many times that alot of people at Epic were upset at Microsoft. Alot of the higher ups at Epic really wanted to work on new Ips and work on alot of iOS games with there Chair division, but Microsoft wants them to keep cranking out Gears games and my brother stated that this was made even worse when Bulletstorm under preformed. This is very similar to the sitiuation at Infinity Ward that led to the outing of Jason West and Vince Zampella. These guys a ultra talented and ultra creative and when they can no longer be creative they cant stand it. The lack of new IPS and new creativity is really hurting the gaming industry, thats why so many guys like Lee Perry (Epic) and Robert Bowling (Infinity Ward) are creating their own studios and working on the iOS and Android platform cause they have more control. I would look for Cliffy B to do the same very soon with Oculus that hes involved with.
That's one big reason i'm really looking at NOT buying into the next console generation. There's way more innovation going on in the PC and Tablet based platforms, the next PS3/360 generation is just going to be 'more of the same' and i'm already pretty bored. I can't imagine 8 more years buying into the next console cycle.
But your insider knowledge there of what's going on in Epic is pretty much what I was thinking was going on. Gears is one of a few billion dollar video game franchises, you don't innovate those until you're forced to and you certainly don't bench it. Instead you try and milk it until it's dry and the teets are all rubbed raw.