When it comes to describing a new game to expectant fans using words like “Managing Betrayal” it won’t instantly put people at ease, though you do have to admit the honest level is right up there. The two words were used in a recent conversation between Rod Fergusson (Developer at Black Tusk Studios) and OXM. For those that don’t know Black Tusk Studios where recently charged with bringing the latest chapter in the Gears of War saga to the Xbox One.
“It’s the same thing with all sequels,” he told OXM, “This isn’t a great way of phrasing it but I always talk about shipping a sequel to customers as ‘managing betrayal’. They want something new but they don’t want something so new that it doesn’t feel like what they want. But if you put out something that’s very familiar and is the same as the game they just had, then it’s like ‘I’ve already had this. This isn’t new enough.”
As yet there is no title, no release date, actually nothing has been set in stone for the game. However, criticism has already be drawn into the game due to a line thrown in about “Learning from Halo 4” this lead to heckles of the latest GoW being, “Call of Duty-ified” etc. Fergusson, however, calmed the fears promising that the core DNA of the game would stay the same. On a personal level it makes me want to ask the world to calm down for two minutes and let us see what the people at Black Tusk can deliver, yes there is a rumble of dissatisfaction on what and where it’s arrived, but breath and wait. Once the bridge has been crossed then you can either scream blue murder or love it.
“You actually have to betray them enough to give them something new and surprising but not so much that they disconnect, and I think that is a big thing that we have to focus on,” Fergusson added. “It’s how we can innovate and bring something new to the franchise while at the same time really proving that we understand Gears – that this is the franchise that you know and love.”
“So I’ve already given multiple speeches to the team like ‘here are the core tenets of Gears, here are the things that won’t be changing, and here are opportunities for us to innovate that we think we can knock out of the park.”
It will be interesting to see what Black Tusk Studios can bring to the Xbox One as they already have a fan-base fight on their hands before the first line of code can be written.
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