More rumours quashed, no Gears of War for PS3

Mike Bantick
Sunday, 03 June 2007 06:00

Opinion and Analysis

Some excitement amongst Sony PS3 owners this week with whispers of a fall out between Microsoft and Gears of War developer Epic.

PS3 Centre (amongst others) has recently run a story indicating there has been some friction, or difference of vision between Epic and publisher (and let’s face is, main beneficiary of Epic’s work) Microsoft.

The story indicates that Epic is unhappy with Microsoft’s pure money making ambition for the top selling Xbox 360 exclusive Gears of War.  A longbow is then drawn by announcing that because of this fall out, PS3 (and possibly other platforms) could see Gears of War versions heading their way.

Turns out this pure wishful thinking, Gears, it seems is firmly entrenched on the Xbox 360 platform for now.  Mark Rein from epic was quick to quash the story; “This story is complete bull****. I emailed the site and asked them to take it down. We're very happy with our relationship with Microsoft. If it weren't for them Gears wouldn't be the huge hit it has become.”

Epic has already indicated that that Gears of War is destined to be a trilogy exclusive to Xbox 360, and are currently hard at work on Gears of War 2.

Still in this volatile industry, things can change quickly.  Look at the scrambling that occurred amongst developers and publishers alike when it emerged how big a success the Nintendo Wii would be.

Microsoft is obviously interested in making a buck.  Blockbuster Exclusive titles are the most lucrative way to drive this, as they push both software and hardware purchases.  The story may therefore not be “complete bull****”, but the likelihood of any difference of ideology causing either company to loose site of the dangled dollar is slim.