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[rhandino]

I'm a huge fan of Gears

Spoiler

/Epic

but the campaigns in those games are completely forgettable. the real heart of the franchise got it's roots from Unreal Tournament and it's still alive today because of the MP, not the SP.

yes. gears story is terrible and so is the campaign.

Next thing you are going to tell me is that people only play Halo or COD because the multiplayer and never ever bother with the campaigns...

I mean, there are, how many? like 6 or 7 books and the same amounts of comics based on the GoW universe? There are people who is really invested in the lore and the story of Gears and buy the games for that reason. Of course, it's nice that the games have good multiplayer components =P

 

[EvB]

The Coalition is an OK name, I suppose. Definitely better than Black Tusk, never liked that name one bit.

Yeah I think it is a better name. Black Tusk sounded a bit project namey.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Haha, people have doomed them over a simple name-change.

You never know, their game might actually be pretty good!

It's more that this means the studio is inexorably tied to the Gears franchise, which means there's somewhere between little and no chance they'll have the opportunity to develop anything else. Same as happened to Bungie. Same as is happening with 343.

 

[SicSemperTyrannis]

Yeah. I had a similar though about 343i a few weeks ago.

Such a name says "you are stuck making this franchise forever or until we shut you down"

What kills me is that back in 2009 when Microsoft closed Ensemble it was because they were a studio that was only making one type of game, RTS, and they wanted to diversify their portfolio of first party developers to better serve the market. How is the new trend of creating a Halo studio and a Gears studio really any better for them? When one of these franchises eventually wanes what good is the studio afterward? Mind you, ensemble created some of the most beloved RTS games ever and they were at one point making a Halo MMO that got canceled by Microsoft. So their lack of diversity can't be placed solely on the studio. Whatever, diversification is overrated and they should just ActiBlizzUbiEA their franchises into the ground and not try to create new innovative worlds for owners of their console to invest themselves in; obviously Halo was never a new thing that no one knew they wanted and the same goes for Gears.

Also, don't forget that Microsoft also divested the studio behind MS Flight Sim for the same exact reason as Ensemble. This is truly a pity. Seeing the horrible face of focus tested to death and corporate decisions within the industry hurts my soul sometimes.

 

[myharlequin]

Just like when MS let Bungie make a new IP.

Oh wait...

Xbox Management Team changed a little bit Nobody knows!

 

[The_Darkest_Red]

Xbox Management Team changed a little bit Nobody knows!

Then again, look at the thread you're posting in. Seems like nothing has really changed to me.

 

[Steverulez]

Just like when MS let Bungie make a new IP.

Oh wait...

They let Bungie work on a new IP after Halo CE, and they proceeded to completely screw up Halo 2 development, delay it a year, get all the people on the new IP back from that project and redo Halo 2 in however many months before launch.

After that they did Halo 3 while negotiating their departure.

Bungie also started working on another new IP whilst they were making Destiny (by one of the Halo Reach leads iirc) and then they cancelled that too.

Seems Bungie can only do 1 IP at a time.

Given how important Halo has been to the Xbox brand, I can't say their skepticism over letting Bungie branch out after Halo 2 surprises me, then they were gone and could look around for a new publisher

 

[Newtype-001]

I liked the old name better but "the coalition" isnt that bad tbh.

Sounds like a heist movie.

 

[King Beyond the wall]

ND: Uncharted, 3 games in a row, then they decided to go for a new IP
Santa Monica Studio: God of War studio (Already 4 or 5 God of War games)
PD: Gran Turismo, 7 Games, no plans new IP?
Guerrilla Games: Killzone, 4 Games in a row, then planned a new IP
Crystal Dynamics: Since 2006 only Tomb Raider franquices. (4-5 games of the same franquice)
Evolution Studios: Motorstorm, 4 games in a row, then they try a new IP
Sucker Punch Productions: Since 2009 just Infamous (3 Games in a row)

343i: Only 1 Game and 1 remake
TC: No game released yet
People complaingin about a name and the direction of TC.

You forgot Japan Studio who have done a huge variety of games in the past 7/8 years (since PS3 launched)
Also quite unfair on Santa Monica who have co-developed a lot of games since PS3 launched.

Concerns people have are not on what has happened in the past but what this means for the future. Do you think if Naughty Dog had been renamed 'Nathan Drake Studios' they would have made The Last of Us, or if Guerrilla became 'Killzone productions' they would be making Horizon?

There is little chance of The Coalition making something which is not Gears of War in the future, whereas pretty much every Sony studio has the possibility of exploring new ips.

 

[Johnny Cage]

David Cameron and Nick Clegg forever

 

[J-Skee]

So any chance that Coalition or 343 will ever be able to make an original game? I get it, franchises are valuable, but it kinda sucks.

 

[Drek]

No.

MS bought Bungie, canned their new IP because they were screwing up Halo 2 and told them to make Halo which upset the founders.

Microsoft opened Microsoft Vancouver and built them from the ground up, who were originally making a Kinect FPS then it was canned and also did a Flight Simulator thing too I think? Or helped on it. Then became Black Tusk to work on a new IP, now The Coalition to make Gears. Its an entirely Microsoft led studio, theres no money to take themselves out of MS and no-one else has ever done it either.

If you want to work on Gears, you work at TC, if you want to work on non-Gears, you can go elsewhere, possibly even Redmond, where you can work on multiple games with partners which they do a lot.

Microsoft bought Bungie before the first Halo came out, shelved the PC version (it was a PC only title up to that point), and then proceeded to turn them into a Halo only studio.

The reasons why Bungie could buy itself back out were:
1. the studio had a strong prior track record and brought it's own fanbase as both Marathon and Myth were well respected games.
2. the founders of Bungie got outright paid with the original buyout and had very lucrative compensation packages for their duration with MS. They mostly all stuck around and as a result had a wealthy core who could afford a buyout.
3. the vast majority of the talent was loyal to the founders of Bungie, not MS, were bored of Halo, and were therefore all willing to move on should Jones, Seropian, etc. move on and open a new startup.

As a result for MS the best option was to let them go. Well, alternatively they could have let them make a new IP but clearly that wasn't what they wanted.

Also, MS Vancouver/Black Tusk/The Coalition has never completed a project in nearly a decade now. So why do we care that they've changed their name yet again? It isn't like Black Tusk really existed from a consumer standpoint.

 

[Skiptastic]

Wasn't this pretty obvious when they made Rod the head of the studio?

Anyway, cool name. Good to know Gears has a home base for the future. Hope they make amazing Gears games!

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Welp there goes the chance for their original game ever getting made.

This.

I hate MS's attitude of making all their new studios IP specific.

 

[JaggedSac]

They let Bungie work on a new IP after Halo CE, and they proceeded to completely screw up Halo 2 development, delay it a year, get all the people on the new IP back from that project and redo Halo 2 in however many months before launch.

After that they did Halo 3 while negotiating their departure.

Bungie also started working on another new IP whilst they were making Destiny (by one of the Halo Reach leads iirc) and then they cancelled that too.

Seems Bungie can only do 1 IP at a time.

Given how important Halo has been to the Xbox brand, I can't say their skepticism over letting Bungie branch out after Halo 2 surprises me, then they were gone and could look around for a new publisher

Did not know this.

 

[Booya_base]

Yikes, bad for two reasons - it sounds worse and it'll only be Gears of War - new IP please!

 

[p3tran]

What's in a name? 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.

Fans will also recognize the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) from Gears of War lore.

When people hear 343 Industries, they associate it with Halo; when they hear Turn 10 Studios, they know that’s who makes Forza. Moving forward, when you hear The Coalition, we want you to think of Gears of War.

so, first of all, as a customer, it is good to know that there is a dedicated studio aspiring to provide t10 level of quality/consistency. (tall order to fill)

then, I think it could be working for them in their business, as in recruiting great talent ...geared and focused towards a very specific objective.

but most of all, if this is the studio decision and not some mandate from the ms chain of command, more power to them!
and to dat chain of command that allows such personnel ...liberties. (I dont believe that this is the case though, but the text seems to indicate something in that line)

 

[Leflus]

Also, MS Vancouver/Black Tusk/The Coalition has never completed a project in nearly a decade now. So why do we care that they've changed their name yet again? It isn't like Black Tusk really existed from a consumer standpoint.

It hasn't even been half a decade yet. Gears of War 4* will be released roughly 4 years after Black Tusk Studios went into recruitment mode.

*assuming Gears 4 gets released in 2016.

 

[Zakalwe]

Black Tusk is a much better name.

 

[U2NUMB]

Not surprised they renamed it... I do not really care either way but I do like the new logo. We all knew they were going to be a Gears factory..

 

[SenjutsuSage]

If that were true, they would have made Alan Wake 2, not Quantum Break.

Disagree, I think Quantum Break is exactly the game Remedy wanted to make more than anything else. Just because they have desires for an Alan Wake 2 doesn't mean that it's a direction they as a creative group decided was ultimately best for them to pursue. They want something that they feel will achieve much broader success and that also combines their various strengths as a studio over the years into one ultimate experience, and I don't know if Quantum Break will fully deliver all that, but it's definitely the most exciting looking new Remedy Project since the original Max Payne.

 

[JigglesBunny]

Aw damn. Black Tusk was a pretty cool name and I loved their logo.

The Coalition just sounds... cheap.

 

[BabyFaceKillah]

terrible name.... black tusk was better

and its pretty much a gears factory now... hoorayyyy

 

[Doffen]

You forgot Japan Studio who have done a huge variety of games in the past 7/8 years (since PS3 launched)

Isn't most of these games collaborations with other studios?

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Well, it's a nice enough name, but I guess this confirms that they will stay a Gears factory for the rest of their days.

 

[The Mad Draklor]

Welp there goes the chance for their original game ever getting made.

This really bums me. I was looking forward to what (formerly) Black Tusk was making... =/

 

[Newtype-001]

Isn't most of these games collaborations with other studios?

Not really, its on and off and fluctuates depending on what projects they currently have i think cause in 2012 and 2013 they released 4 internally developed games and 3 collab games.

2015 has 1 collab game released and no internal

Spoiler

yet

 

[Neuromancer]

 

[El_Chino]

He sounds so excited.

 

[Infinite Justice]

jeffgoldblumthereitis.gif

 

[ForsakenLotus]

Something about that name just sounds really, really sad.

 

[CassidyIzABeast]

If Rod is happy, I'm happy.

 

[Mr Git]

Wow, that's a terrible name. Suppose that cements them as Gears developers forever.

 

[R3TRO]

Welp, that's disappointing.

 

[chadskin]

Disagree, I think Quantum Break is exactly the game Remedy wanted to make more than anything else. Just because they have desires for an Alan Wake 2 doesn't mean that it's a direction they as a creative group decided was ultimately best for them to pursue. They want something that they feel will achieve much broader success and that also combines their various strengths as a studio over the years into one ultimate experience, and I don't know if Quantum Break will fully deliver all that, but it's definitely the most exciting looking new Remedy Project since the original Max Payne.

While Remedy had a publishing deal with Microsoft for the original game, the studio owns the rights to the Alan Wake franchise. So once it was happy with the early work prototyping Alan Wake 2, Remedy began to take the video around to a number of publishers.

Eventually, it arrived once more at Microsoft.

"They have been really supportive about Alan Wake and [now head of Xbox] Phil Spencer has been awesomely supportive when it comes to Remedy and Alan Wake along the way," Lake said. "We showed it to Microsoft and I guess at the time Microsoft was looking for something slightly different for their portfolio.

"Quite quickly our discussion about Alan Wake 2 turned into something else and that something else turned into Quantum Break, which was great and very exciting.".

Remedy very much wanted to do Alan Wake 2 but MS turned it down. There's very little to disagree with here.

 

[Ricky Ricardo]

Wait, how did you remember this?

It was such a dumb, butthurt comment that I HAD to save it.

 

[maquiladora]

I liked it better as Black Tusk and I also liked it better when they were working on this:

Same here.

 

[BokehKing]

If Rod is happy, I'm happy.

Did the "!" convey happiness?

 

[Triggerhappytel]

jeffgoldblumthereitis.gif

He sounds so excited.

Wasn't he kind of notorious for moving around between developers before settling at Black Tusk? I wonder how long he'll stick around here for.

 

[Sydle]

I read this as them saying they are now a Gears-only studio.

Edit: Tweets above confirm it. Oh well.

 

[Neuromancer]

Santa Monica Studio: God of War studio (Already 4 or 5 God of War games)

I'd just like to point out that Santa Monica works on a ton of games with other studios, so framing them a God of War factory is not entirely accurate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCE_Santa_Monica_Studio

 

[Black Mantis]

I thought this was obvious given that they're rebooting the franchise.

 

[Leflus]

Wasn't he kind of notorious for moving around between developers before settling at Black Tusk? I wonder how long he'll stick around here for.

Not really.

Fergusson graduated with a bachelor in computer science from the University of Ottawa in 1990.[1] He started in the game industry as a program manager at Microsoft, working at the company from 1996 to 2006.[2] One of the first projects he worked on was Microsoft Train Simulator.[3][4] In July 2005, he was hired by Epic Games to work as executive producer and director of production on the Gears of War series. On August 9, 2012, Fergusson announced his departure from Epic and joined Irrational Games during the final stretch of development on BioShock Infinite as executive vice president of development.[5][6] On April 8, 2013, Fergusson confirmed that he would leave Irrational Games.[7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Fergusson

*crossing my fingers for Cole Train Simulator*

 

[SEGAvangelist]

Wasn't he kind of notorious for moving around between developers before settling at Black Tusk? I wonder how long he'll stick around here for.

He was at Epic for a really long time. He was then brought into Irrational to save Bioshock Infinite pretty much. I don't think the contract was for more than that. He also helped create Gears with CliffyB, so this franchise is near and dear to his heart, I imagine.

 

[Steverulez]

I thought this was obvious given that they're rebooting the franchise.

Phil has said its not a reboot. Phil doesn't like the idea of reboots for Halo/Gears

 

[Gambit 1138]

Black Tusk sounded much cooler

 

[VinFTW]

Did the "!" convey happiness?

Clearly you're lost. It's Rod. Gears is love, Gears is life.l

 

[SEGAvangelist]

I'd just like to point out that Santa Monica works on a ton of games with other studios, so framing them a God of War factory is not entirely accurate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCE_Santa_Monica_Studio

Seems like they function like MS Studios outside of their main game development, though. Overseeing stuff.

 

[LuuKyK]

What a terrible name. Black Tusk was much better.

The Coalition sounds like the name with a c-tier action movie.

 

[BokehKing]

Clearly you're lost. It's Rod. Gears is love, Gears is life.l

Never mind, you must have pressed enter too early on keyboard

Anyway

As long as the collar is not tight, they should be fine, new IP ideas should not be stifled