Epic has no 10-year Gears plan - Rein

By Robert Purchese Published 11 February, 2009

But VP appreciates enthusiasm.

Epic power-dresser Mark Rein has politely rubbished suggestions that the company has a "ten-year plan" for the Gears of War series.

"No, we do not," Rein told VG247, stamping out claims made by Gears writer Joshua Ortega at Comic-Con over the weekend.

"In this industry you can't plan games very far in advance. We appreciate the enthusiasm Josh has for our franchise but we don't have a ten-year plan. We always have ideas of where we'd like it to go but it's determined on a game-by-game basis and ultimately by fan support.

"Our focus right now is supporting the Gears of War 2 game and community," he added.

Rein went on to reveal there was no plan for Gears of War beyond the current hardware generation. How long these machines will be around for, however, is unknown; certainly Sony favours the long-term, and Microsoft wants the Xbox 360 to stay on the market longer than the original Xbox.

But for now, Rein and Epic are focused on Title Update 3 for Gears of War 2. This will add an experience point system to online multiplayer, which lets players level-up over time and display their commitment with a bright, flashy number.

Title Update 3 will be out in the "near future", with possible map DLC featuring extra Achievements tied to the new levels to follow.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • DutchDemons #1 3 years ago

    so he goes on record to state that Gears is not gonna last 10 years?

    very odd...i get the whole 'oh, it depends on the fans [read; buy it or we're not gonna bother anymore]'....but this seems like going overboard with that attitude.

  • miiiguel #2 3 years ago

    I thought the first claim was a joke on the other 10 year plan.

  • SixFootHalfling #3 3 years ago

    "Our focus right now is supporting the Gears of War 2 game and community," he added.

    By releasing paid for DLC, and ignoring the crippling lag most players outside of America experience?

  • robg #4 3 years ago

    I'm sure Gears will live on in every other 3rd person shooter, in the hearts and minds of its fans who criticise other offerings for their plot, characters and dialogue :)

  • kangarootoo #5 3 years ago

    Haha. Left hand, meet right hand.


    @DutchDemons

    "so he goes on record to state that Gears is not gonna last 10 years?"

    You must have read a different article to the rest of us. In the one I read he said nothing of the sort.

  • DutchDemons #6 3 years ago

    @kangarootoo
    rubbished suggestions that the company has a "ten-year plan" for the Gears of War series.

    "No, we do not," Rein told VG247


    I seemed to have read this...
    Edited by 1 at 11/02/09 @ 11:25

  • kangarootoo #7 3 years ago

    @DutchDemons

    Saying you don't have a ten year plan is NOT the same as saying something won't last ten years.

    I don't have a ten year career plan, but I fully expect to still have a career in ten years. In fact, I don't think I have a ten year plan for anything at all, but many aspects of my life will still be going strong in ten years.

  • Monsta #8 3 years ago

    It all make me think about the fact that apart from rumblings about a new Wii we haven't had much talk from MS or Sony about next gen.

    I'm sure by this time last gen there was already loads of gossip about who was supplying what!

  • vpin #9 3 years ago

    There'll be a Gears 3 in 2010 for the 360.

    And Gears 4 will be a premiere launch game for the next Xbox in 2012.

    After that, the world will end in a month.

    /retreats back into parents' basement

    /thinks of more silly predictions to post on teh intarnets

  • DutchDemons #10 3 years ago

    @kangarootoo

    i understand what he is trying to say. I just find it odd that he has to go on record and saying that there is no such thing as a 10 year plan. One would think it is only a good thing to create buzz by saying Gears is here to stay.

    instead...he does this.

  • miiiguel #11 3 years ago

    ^ tbh I prefer it this way. I think it's called honesty.

  • DutchDemons #12 3 years ago

    haha,

    gawd you guys...stop picking on me :-) i am not a lawyer. just a gamer who frowned at this news item ya know...i went kinda like:

    0_o

  • skillian #13 3 years ago

    Epic probably does have a ten year company plan, and I wouldn't be surprised if Gears was mentioned in it.

    The only reason he's saying this now is to keep people's attention on the current game, and not give the impression they are past this and working on the next thing.

  • chessboxer #14 3 years ago

    Epic should spend some time trying to make UT3 half as decent as UT2004 (or even UT99).

  • kangarootoo #15 3 years ago

    @DutchDemons

    Heehee. Sorry dude, didn't mean to start a witch hunt on you :)

    I figure he is probably saying this for one of two reasons.

    1. It is an off the cuff remark, perhaps prompted by a direct question, which has now turned into a full news article. And turning it into a full news article has made it seema bigger deal than it is.

    2. What skillian said. A response to perhaps a pile of people shouting "fix the lack in GoW2 you bostrd winkas"... 'cos thats the sort of thing the internet does.



    Now, everybody... STAMP ON DutchDemons' NEW SHOES!!!

  • ronuds #16 3 years ago

    Seems a bit unnecessary going out of your way to make a co-worker look like an idiot. But that's just me...

  • kangarootoo #17 3 years ago

    @ronuds

    That does seem to be kind of Mark Rein's style unfortunately.

  • ronuds #18 3 years ago

    Yeah...he is a bit of an asshole.

  • sneetch #19 3 years ago

    @ronuds
    Seems a bit unnecessary going out of your way to make a co-worker look like an idiot. But that's just me...

    I don't think he went "out of his way" to do anything of the sort. He simply corrected a misconception that they've probably already took a load of flak over (and are no doubt still taking flak over with the righteous fury over the sorry state of certain aspects of Gears 2).

    He may have jerked his chain a little but revealing that Joshua Ortega, apparently, made up this whole 10 year plan thing (sheesh, even the soviets only had 5 year plans) is really more Ortega making himself look like an idiot.

  • ronuds #20 3 years ago

    That's not the way I see it. Why would they get flak over the 10 year comment? Sure, Gears 2 has multiplayer problems of its own, but that has absolutely nothing to do with any future iterations. I highly doubt if they planned on fixing Gears' MP problems that they'd release Gears 3 first?? And anyone who mentions both the 10 year comment and Gears' MP issues in relation to one another is, quite frankly, a dope.

    Just my opinion, though...

  • sneetch #21 3 years ago

    @ronuds
    And anyone who mentions both the 10 year comment and Gears' MP issues in relation to one another is, quite frankly, a dope.

    Just my opinion, though...

    Not just your opinion, mate, it's one I share but there are no shortage of dopes who did just that. :)

  • JahB #22 3 years ago

    By releasing paid for DLC, and ignoring the crippling lag most players outside of America experience?

    what crippling lag? i've never had any lag problems with gears whatsoever. the only problem i have with it is the strange match making system