People Can Fly doing Gears of War prequel trilogy 'a likely scenario,' says OXM

Here we are, roughly six years into the "next-generation" lifecycle and we're seeing the third installments of major franchises. In a one-year period, we'll see Resistance 3, Modern Warfare 3, Uncharted 3, Mass Effect 3, Assassin's Creed: Revolution (sort of), and Gears of War 3. And while not all of these episodes represent the end of a considered story arc, Epic Games hasn't been shy about calling Gears of War 3 the end of the line for Dom and crew. Which raises the question: Who will handle the lucrative Gears franchise going forward?

"Gears of War will live on, of course, but in what form?" the latest issue of Official Xbox Magazine posits, via CVG, before suggesting "a prequel trilogy developed by Epic-owned People Can Fly (Bulletstorm) as a likely scenario." With Bulletstorm failing to reach profitability (and presumably failing the basic litmus test for being franchised), People Can Fly will be looking for something to work on.

With three Gears titles under their belts, the core North Carolina-based Epic team may be eager to move onto greener pastures. For now, they're working on RAAM's Shadow, the first piece of campaign DLC in the Gears trilogy, and notably a prequel. Sounds like a nice way to hand things off, doesn't it?