In a new interview with Cliff Bleszinski, the lead designer on the original Gears of War trilogy, we share his thoughts on Epic Games' sale of the title. Microsoft purchased the series in 2014. At that time, the series went from an exclusive title in collaboration with Epic Games to a first-party game.

During an interview with IGN, Bleszinski shared his thoughts on why Epic Games is selling the title. In Bleszinski's opinion, once he, producer Rod Ferguson, and game style designer Lee Perry left, the studio "didn't know what to do with the series. According to Bleszinski, Epic Games hasn't released a game in a while.

And while an industry-leading engine might need some developer cash, Fortnite was still a long way from launch and the Epic Games Store didn't exist.

Gears of War came about through simple decisions, the trilogy's designer decided to make a third-person shooter where he wanted to showcase the detailed character models. Bleszinski remains proud of the story behind Gears of War and especially the decisions made about Dom and Maria.

Since the label became Microsoft's property, the studio has continued to develop its games with the biggest games in history, most notably Fortnite, and Bleszinski returned to game development in late 2015 with Boss Key Productions, which released Lawbreakers in 2017, but the failure of Lawbreakers led to the closure of Boss Key Productions in 2019.