No PC Gears of War yet

By Tom Bramwell Published 27 May, 2005

X360 only for now, but Allard wasn't talking rubbish.

Epic boss Mark Rein has countered Xbox 360 front man J Allard's assertion in a recent Eurogamer interview that Gears of War will be released on both the Microsoft console and the PC platform, however he has not ruled out the possibility of a Halo-style PC port further down the road.

"Gears of War is an Xbox 360 exclusive. We're developing it specifically to take advantage of the power and features of the console," Rein told Epic fan site BeyondUnreal. "All of the work on Gears between now and when we ship is toward creating the ultimate Xbox 360 game."

"Could we, in the future, adapt Gears for Windows just as Microsoft did with Halo? Sure we could and, as you can see from J Allard's comments, Microsoft is clearly cool with that idea. But we're a long way off from thinking about that."

Although J Allard's response to this website that Gears of War was "Xbox [360] and PC" had led to a lot of excitement, it's worth reminding ourselves that Allard did check himself by admitting "it might be on one before the other," before adding that it was "a little bit more of a game time decision".

Allard, who has been at the heart of Microsoft's promotional effort for Xbox 360 since just prior to E3, claimed in the same interview that it was not his company's goal to remove PC games from their heartland and reposition them exclusively on a Microsoft-owned platform - a commendable position if delivered upon, and one many have encouraged.

"Every decision we make is really focused on what the gamers want," he said during E3. "A ton of our gamers are dual gamers meaning that they have PC and console because they prefer some aspects of PC, especially in FPSs. Okay, should we really make Quake an exclusive that you can't play on PC."

Although interviewers gave him a rough ride over the company's treatment of Halo, which took more than a year to make it from Xbox to PC, Allard was adamant that Microsoft cared about gamers as a whole, and also said that he was "encouraged" rather than surprised by the quality of Sony's PlayStation 3 showing, adding, "I want gaming to get bigger!"

You can read the full Allard interview elsewhere on Eurogamer here.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • asphaltcowboy #1 7 years ago

    Gears of Windows? :D

  • Squig #2 7 years ago

    ...but they havent ported Halo 2 to the PC.

  • Netfreak #3 7 years ago

    Let's see what happens after 2 years, maybe we'll see Halo 2 for the PC. Unless of course MS release Halo 2.5 for the 360, PC gamers are out of luck.

  • Les #4 7 years ago

    When Halo finally arrived on PC, it was just an average FPS. What works on a console doesn't necessarily work on the PC, and vice versa.

  • Lothar Hex #5 7 years ago

    I understand where Net is coming from. Take Tron 2.0 for example. Got great reviews on the PC as for the Xbox version...well I gave it 2/10 for Gamestyle, what does that tell you?

  • krudster #6 7 years ago

    Tron was arse on Xbox, I have to agree.

  • Lothar Hex #7 7 years ago

    I want to question one part specifically for it and other FPS games. WHY PUT JUMPING PUZZLES IN A GAME WHERE YOU CAN'T SEE YOUR FUCKING FEET?

  • Pablo2k5 #8 7 years ago

    Squig... "...but they havent ported Halo 2 to the PC."

    Thats because it was sh1t and no-one cares if it gets ported or not.

  • Netfreak #9 7 years ago


    What works on a console doesn't necessarily work on the PC,
    and vice versa.


    Actually, it still sold well on the PC to this day. I think a few weeks ago the game was on the top ten.

  • Feanor #10 7 years ago

    It's funny, I've read a couple of previews of Gears of War on other web-sites that claim it's nothing to get excited about because it's just a pretty console FPS. Problem is that it's a third-person action game, somewhat inspired by Resi 4.

  • Negotiator #11 7 years ago

    This game looks hot, its a big reason to get a 360.

  • Genji #12 7 years ago

    Psst Xiphos,

    PCs are also a crap-load more expensive than consoles, and harder to use. They're also starting to get a lot of games later than the console versions, or not at all. If they're almost exactly the same, then why are people flocking to console gaming and not PC gaming, even though PCs are obviously superior in every conceivable way? Because everyone is stupid?
    Goodbye PC gaming. I will miss the good times.

  • RS3York1 #13 7 years ago

    I wouldn't be surprised if Gears of War does take at least a year to come to the PC. At this point the release of GoW: PC Edition would be more about making J Allard look good.

    I can understand the issue around PC gamers wanting Halo 1...Halo was initally a Mac/PC title that was switched over to the Xbox when Microsoft bought Bungie.

    However, this persistent little notion that MS somehow "owes" or "should give" PC gamers ports of Xbox titles is funny. Microsoft is seriously lagging behind Sony in the most important measure - marketshare. By granting simultaneous or near-simultaneous relaase of games on Xbox 360 & PC...MS isn't helping their case of "buy *our* console".

  • Genji #14 7 years ago

    Is someone going to get around to banning this guy already?

    EDIT: Ooooh, looks like it already happened
    Edited by Genji at 29/05/05 @ 03:21

  • Xerx3s #15 7 years ago

    Pablo2k5 >> No, thats because YOUR shit, and anyone who claims the same should have a cat exam. While your at it, do a brain transplant 2. I can think of a thousand (well, more actually, not even counting all the crap from €A) shit games, but Halo (2) is not one of them. Just because you cant even beat the first lvl on super easy, doesnt mean its crap. If YOU say that, id recon that you think that every game is crap.

    Pff, i recon that you didnt even play the game. Your most likely just saying that because you wanna be popular with the nobrainers. [...]

  • Les #16 7 years ago

    I played Halo 2 for a short while at a friends place, but I didn't like it at all. After all the hype about the graphics, they were a big let down for me. Maybe I played too much UT2004, but in Halo 2 everything looks like it's made of plastic. Furthermore playing an FPS with a controller just doesn't feel right. And as far as the story goes, playing as someone with the most stupid name ever conceived in a videogame, doesn't help either.

  • Genji #17 7 years ago

    What, Serious Sam? Duke Nukem? Max Payne? Mr. Pants? Who? Who has the stupidest name? I must know!

    Also, let me get this straight: you expected the graphics for Halo 2 to be on par with UT2K4? Oh deary me. Oh, and you're complaining about the fact that console FPS games use gamepads. Original! Seriously, it's more of a mental hurdle than anything. If you played it for more than a short while at a friend's place, you might just become accustomed to it.

    Or not. The fall of PC gaming has enabled me to appreciate the finer points of console games I'd never even thought of playing before. It's a retro revolution!
    Edited by Genji at 30/05/05 @ 11:00

  • Spiral #18 7 years ago

    "playing as someone with the most stupid name ever
    conceived in a videogame, doesn't help either."

    What, John? Harsh, but fair. ;)

  • Scimarad #19 7 years ago

    " it looks and runs better "

    You could argue 'looks' but when you talking about PCs running AT ALL is nice change.