Game Groups > Gears of War series

Gears of War is a 3rd-person cover based tactical shooter originally developed by Epic games, under the direction of Lead Designer Cliff Bleszinski. The series is exclusive to the different generation of Xbox platforms, only the first title was ported to PC as well.

It is set on the fictional world of Sera, where the human population, known as the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG), is waging a long and bloody war against a subterranean enemy known as the Locust Horde. The stories of the Gears of War games focus on the exploits against the Locust Horde of Marcus Fenix, the games primary protagonist and Delta Squad, a special forces team led by Fenix, usually consisting of Fenix and three or four other COG 'Gears' (soldiers).

A version of the game based around input with the Xbox 360 Kinect peripheral was announced but eventually cancelled in April 2012.

On 27th January 2014 Microsoft Studios, the publisher of the series, announced to have acquired the franchise. Development from Epic is taken over by Microsoft's own Black Tusk Studios. At the same time Rod Fergusson, former director of production at Epic, joined Microsoft to oversee further development in the franchise.