Job security, I guess
After Microsoft acquired theGears of Warrights, Black Tusk studio was doomed. It wasrebranded as The Coalition, a less discrete and more boring name, and will be toGears of Warwhat 343 is toHalo.
Black Tusk had been working on an original game, showed off in a concept trailer at E3 2013 (above), but that has beenshelved forGears. According to studio manager Mike Crump, speaking toPolygon, “We could continue working on the IP we were working on. Or we had the opportunity to take onGears of War.”
The unnamed project had a staff of nearly 100 and had been in development for a year and a half, “We were hugely invested in what we were working on. You don’t spend a year and a half working on a game without getting attached to it,” Crump said.
“I’d be lying if I said there weren’t some people on the team who were disappointed when they found out the thing they’d been working on for so long was going to be shelved. If you’ve been in the game industry long enough, you’re going to go through project cancellations. People go through this period of mourning a bit. You have to give them that space and time to go through that, the sense of loss that people have around something they’re invested in.”
But for the senior staff of Black Tusk Crump gathered to discuss the future, it was a “no-brainer.” And that kind of job security does seem like a no-brainer for a handful of folks responsible for a staff of hundred. “We went around the table and everybody was in favor of going forGears of War,” Crump said.
Mostly I’m upset that it is calledGears of War 4and not justGears 4.
Beauty deconstructed: The state of Gears of War[Polygon]
