Speaking exclusively to OXM UK, Gear’s of War head honcho Cliff Bleszinski has dispelled the commonly held belief that Gears of War was devised as a three-part series. The humble Bleszinski also talks about the process of announcing a new IP, and how studios should crawl before they sprint up a wall when it comes to declaring a mutli-game series is on the way.
[It] never was planned as a trilogy. Somebody at Microsoft said that and that got attributed to me. I think if you’re the kind of person who says ‘here’s this game and it’s going to be the start of an epic trilogy’, gamers are like f*** you, let’s see how good your first game is. Bring it. You put them on the defensive.The key is to be humble and be like, who knows? Maybe. It’ll be cool. We’ll put each game out one at a time and see how it goes. It’s like Final Fantasy. “This will be my final game and I’m done.” And it blows up and they’re on like, what, 13 now or something like that?
The full interview with the Epic designer will be up tomorrow.
Source: OXM
R4U Eldave0
Given how much they hyped it up and the fact the first game ends on a bit of a cliffhanger i think they knew there was always going to be a Gears2 and beyond but I take his point. Besides, Gears is excellent so they should keep them coming! ;)
baggyg
Gears 2 was a great improvement. I hope the third adds a bit more “variety” though
eirekun
His tweets etc. seemed to have gone a bit bonkers lately, but that sounds very reasonable. Expectations will be high after an extended wait too.
ultimatepunchrod
i only ever really got into gears when i could do co-op with a buddy. it was a little repetitive to me. but i like what he’s saying here. if you work on a project thinking that it could be your last, youre going to put a ton of effort into it which is what devs should do to make a great game.
ericzap
Del Torro just announced Insane as a trilogy. I wasn’t “…like f*** you, let’s see how good your first game is.” I think it’s rather important to know how many potential entries your series will have. Then you don’t have to rely on silly devices like flashbacks and time travel. Anyone see the Saw films? They killed off the title character in the third movie then had to write in ridiculous parts for that character for the next four movies.
Uhyve
While I agree with him, I always like to imagine that if they are going to make a sequel, they already know where they’re gonna go with it, I don’t wanna feel like they’re just making crap up as they go along. For example, imagine if the writers of Lost didn’t know where they were going to go with the series after the second season…
Severn2j
Wow, was that humility coming from CliffyB? I’m shocked.. Anyway, I find myself agreeing with the man, a game should be built to stand on it’s own merits imo, not just be part of a franchise. If it sells well, then fine, do a sequel, just don’t milk it to death.. The insane trilogy thing had put me off a bit, why can’t they tell a story in one game? Games aren’t movies, it’s not as if they have to fit into a 2 hour time slot. Saying it’s going to be a trilogy just makes me think they want to cash in and I’m not sure I want to invest the money for 3 games in something I haven’t seen yet.