Rod Fergusson
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'Gears of War' boss Rod Fergusson leaves to take over 'Diablo'
After 15 years of working on Gears of War games, The Coalition studio head Rod Fergusson announced he's leaving the Microsoft franchise to join Blizzard Entertainment. Starting in March, he'll "oversee the Diablo franchise." Fergusson has been a part of every Gears game released so far, dating back to his role as a producer on the original -- check out his comments on updates to the "roadie run" in 2007 -- and he's been in charge ever since Microsoft acquired the franchise in 2014. His departure comes as Microsoft is expanding its ownership of development studios with new acquisitions like Ninja Theory and Obsidian, and considering different paths of distribution by pushing Xbox Game Pass and streaming. That directly impacts the Gears franchise, which is about to launch a PC-only tactics spin-off. Meanwhile, Blizzard recently revealed it's working on Diablo IV, which comes after many players had a negative response to news of the Diablo Immortal mobile game. We'll probably hear more about those games, and everything Microsoft has planned for the future of Gears, sooner rather than later.
Microsoft Studios acquires rights to Gears of War series
Microsoft Studios has purchased the rights to the Gears of War franchise from Epic Games, Microsoft announced. The publisher will take over all existing and future games in the series, and will hand development of future games over to Vancouver, BC developer Black Tusk Studios. Formerly Microsoft Vancouver, Black Tusk was said to be working on a new AAA game for Xbox One as of June 2013. Rod Fergusson, former Director of Production at Epic Games on the Gears of War franchise, is joining Microsoft and will play a "key studio leadership role" at Black Tusk. The last time we heard from Fergusson he was launching a new studio for 2K in the Bay Area; it would appear that relationship didn't work out. Each entry in the four-game Gears of War series was published by Microsoft since its introduction in November 2006. The last Epic-developed game in the series was Gears of War: Judgment, which launched in March 2013.
2K Czech shake-up, resources shifted to US
2K Czech, home of the Mafia series, is being restructured, a fancy business term equatable to how mob movies end with a bunch of bodies and a few survivors. Eurogamer reports 2K Czech will shut down its Prague office – where Mafia 3 was rumored to be in development – with the remainder being centralized in Brno (location of the other 2K Czech studio) and "transferring some development resources" to 2K headquarters in Novato, California. "This transition will both strengthen the integration of the 2K Czech team with our award winning development teams, and better align cross-functional business practices. As part of this realignment, we are adjusting our staffing levels, resulting in the elimination of some positions," Eurogamer was told in a statement by 2K. Eurogamer also reports "10 key developers from 2K Czech are also said to have been relocated" to Novato. The obvious conclusion is it has something to do with whatever former Epic and Irrational development head Rod Fergusson is up to with his new 2K studio.
Former Epic, Irrational head Rod Fergusson starts new 2K studio
Rod Fergusson is launching a new studio for 2K Games in the San Francisco Bay area, he announced in a tweet today. The studio is already working on something new: "It's official: I'm launching a new studio for 2K in the Bay Area with an exciting new project! Details soon!" Fergusson most recently spent a year at Irrational Games, a subsidiary of 2K Games, as Executive VP of Development, where he helped polish up BioShock Infinite. Before that, Fergusson was Director of Production at Epic Games.
Rod Fergusson preps to leave Irrational Games
Rod Fergusson, former Director of Production at Epic Games, is soon to be the former VP of Development at BioShock Infinite developer Irrational Games, Polygon reports. Fergusson joined Irrational in August to help finish up work on BioShock Infinite, a game that shipped to widespread critical acclaim on March 26. Now he's in the process of leaving Irrational."I am very proud of the work that I did and of the team and what they were able to accomplish on Infinite," Fergusson says. "Now with the game shipped successfully, I've done what I set out to do here and now I'm looking forward to the next chapter in my life and career."When Fergusson joined Irrational, he followed a trail of major departures from the studio, including Art Director Nate Wells and Design Lead Jeff McGann. There's no word on what Fergusson's next move will be.
Ken Levine on the evolving corporate culture of Irrational and hiring Rod Fergusson
"When you work at a company, people leave and people join. We were up to almost two hundred people at one point and just mathematically you're going to have some turnover," Irrational Games president and creative director Ken Levine told Joystiq when asked how the studio's corporate culture changed after key members of its team had left.Irrational's corporate culture really shifted, Levine said, when the studio expanded the team to tackle the scale of BioShock Infinite, the long-awaited follow-up to Irrational's 2007 critical and commercial hit BioShock."That's when things got a little complicated on the management side, because you have to develop structures we had never really developed before." Yet again, the mathematics of a video game project alter the way in which a team operates, Levine noted, saying that when a team is comprised of around 180 staffers, it becomes more complicated to keep a team's culture and vision while expanding structures to facilitate an expansive project and building the game itself."Everybody's got tasks," Levine said, clarifying that even as president of the company he is the studio's lead writer and is constantly writing material for the projects Irrational develops.Adding Epic's former director of production Rod Fergusson to Irrational's impressive staff roster was an opportunity Levine said he had to explore immediately. "When you get a chance to hire and bring on board a guy like Rod Fergusson to work on BioShock Infinite, you're a fool if you don't do that.""I learn from everybody," Levine said of his team at Irrational, "but Rod has just so much experience he really brought a lot to the table. I think he made it an even better game. Everything benefited from having him on board."For more on BioShock Infinite – which was recently delayed to March 26 – make sure to read Joystiq's recent hands-on preview and watch the first part of our Ken Levine interview detailing the game's evolution.%Gallery-172852%
Epic's Rod Fergusson gets Irrational, working on BioShock Infinite
Epic Games' director of production Rod Fergusson has announced that he's leaving the studio to begin work at Irrational Games on BioShock Infinite tomorrow."Yes it's true, I'm leaving my family at Epic to join my new family at Irrational in Boston starting tomorrow," Fergusson wrote on Twitter. "And yes I've played Infinite and it's amazing! Can't wait for you guys to get your hands on it."The major addition to the Irrational staff comes a day after it was revealed there have been several departures from the BioShock Infinite developer.
Epic shares Gears of War insight and trivia at Comic-Con panel
Cliff Bleszinski, Design Director at Epic Games, along with Production Director Rod Fergusson, voice actor Fred Tatasciore (the voice of Baird as well as "most of the Locusts") and writers Rob Auten and Tom Bissell all took the stage at Comic-Con 2012 for a panel about Gears of War: Judgment. The biggest piece of news out of the panel was that Judgment has a release date: We'll be killing grubs as Baird in the prequel on March 19.The rest of the panel, however, contained a few juicy bits of Gears trivia, just for fans of the series. If you've lived and died with the COGs for three games now, read on.
Gears of War: Judgment launching on March 19, 2013 [update]
Gears of War: Judgment will see Baird and Cole head to the clink at some point in March 2013, according to Epic Games Director of Production Rod Fergusson. The news was revealed to G4's X-Play and confirmed on the show's Twitter account – apparently Fergusson wouldn't allow any more specifics about when the game will be launched.Gears of War: Judgment follows Baird and Cole as they deal with events preceding the main Gears of War trilogy. Polish studio People Can Fly is working on the game in collaboration with Epic Games proper.Update: Epic Games revealed the full March 19 release date – on fan Waldo Kinney's body in tattoo form – during a panel at Comic-Con today.
Gears of War 3 getting Title Update 2 tonight with spectator mode, easier medals and mutators
Epic's Rod Fergusson says on Twitter that Gears of War 3 is getting its Title Update 2 this evening at 2am PDT. Here's the list of what's changing; the biggest update is that the game is getting a spectator mode for gaming leagues to use which will turn the normally 5v5 matches into 4v4, with each team getting an optional spectator spot. Players grinding for rewards will appreciate the update as well, as the Leader and Vengeful medals are easier to earn, as are the Roadie Comet and Regen Enemies mutators. The update also tweaks some UI functionality, including adding an indicator during King of the Hill matches, and adding the option to remove the UI for machinima and video producers. And there are a few bugfixes as well -- host migration in Horde will now stick to the same wave as when it happened, and there are fixes for the lost progress and profile freezing issues that players have experienced. Fergusson says the update will bring down the game's dedicated servers temporarily, and players will need to restart their games to load it up. But follow those instructions, and you can be back to scratching all of the grubs you want.
Gears of War 3 adds 3D support, we await Gears of War 3-D re-titling
Gears of War 3 is the latest game to leverage its numerical modifier by adding 3D support (first pioneered by classic films like Jaws 3-D and SpyKids 3-D), and joins other participants like Killzone 3, Uncharted 3, and Resistance 3. "It felt like something we wanted to have. It was a feature we didn't want to be deficient in," Gears producer Rod Fergusson told Eurogamer. "When you look at Gears 1, it was what people used to demo HD at the time." Ironically enough, the tradeoff for 3D support in Gears 3 will be sub-HD resolutions. "Instead of 720p you're at five something," Fergusson said. "It's a little bit jaggier in certain areas." If it sounds weird to hear an Epic employee suggesting that an Epic game is anything less than a technology high-water mark, there's a reason for it: 3D support "was something that came in really late in our process," Fergusson explained. Instead of building in 3D support from the ground up, Epic instead opted for a post-processing effect that "generally works," he said. The technology is most likely TriOviz, which was accepted into Unreal Engine's Integrated Partners Program last year. Fergusson says while 3D is still "a niche feature" we'll begin to see better support for it on the Xbox. "As you look forward, in the next [Xbox Development Kit] coming out of the Xbox, it'll have more support for 3D or more higher quality for native support for 3D," Fergusson said. "Moving forward, the Xbox will be able to take it further." And we're sure Epic and its ubiquitous Unreal Engine will be right alongside. Update: Epic just confirmed that Gears 3 uses TriOviz. Here's the statement: "Gears of War 3" uses Darkworks' TriOviz technology, which is integrated with Unreal Engine 3, for stereoscopic 3D support. All "Gears of War 3" gameplay and cinematics have S3D support, and this extends to split-screen play as well.
Gears of War 3 campaign preview: 'End of the world, baby'
It's been two years since Jacinto fell at the end of Gears of War 2. What little is left of the COG army in Gears of War 3 clings to a massive tanker, the Sovereign, which sails the coast, dispatching search parties to look for supplies. For the humans on Sera, it is their darkest hour. The Lambent Locusts, infected by the imulsion -- the natural-flowing energy substance that once powered mankind's machines on this planet -- are the latest threat, a much more savage (and explodey) enemy. Both human and the vanilla Locust are on the run. But with such a cliffhanger ending in Gears of War 2, why not just pick it up from there? "We wanted time to pass," executive producer Rod Fergusson told me. "We wanted things to settle in and the novels fill that gap between the second and third game. We wanted time for the weight of the war to settle in on people, for the civilization to collapse and for Dom's beard to grow in. If we [picked up from where Gears 2 left off] then we wouldn't have that weight of it being about survival and then we'd have a game where you're just cleaning up after that big battle. We wanted to make it a more personal story." %Gallery-130531%
Epic on Gears of War 3 leak: 'saddening' and 'frustrating'
As you might imagine, Epic Games wasn't exactly thrilled when an unfinished version of Gears of War 3 leaked onto torrent sites early last month. Executive producer Rod Fergusson told Edge in a recent interview that the breach was "saddening" and "frustrating," mostly because some fans were choosing to "ruin their own experience" before the full game's launch. Fergusson specifically called out folks who shared video of the leaked game online, adding, "I get people going, 'oh no, I just watched this thing on YouTube and it's totally given away something'. And I go, 'well, why did you go looking and why did you watch it?" Probably the same reason why we can't stop going to Nicolas Cage movies: We can't not watch them, despite the fact that they're pretty harmful to the human psyche.
Gears of War 3 multiplayer preview: Dedicated to the fans
When Gears of War 2 launched, its mutliplayer community quickly singled out two distinct issues: the nerfed shotgun and a mess of glitches, including a host exploit that was allowing unscrupulous players to gain an unfair advantage. Epic would eventually address these issues through title updates, but one serious problem remained: all of those damn cheaters. These ne'er-do-wells plagued the community until the bottom fell out, leaving only a dedicated core group of players. You won't find too many folks playing much Gears 2 these days. For Gears of Wars 3 multiplayer, Epic is adding dedicated servers, the community's most requested feature, which design director Cliff Bleszinski describes as "the best way" to combat cheating. %Gallery-117484%
Gears of War 3 producer wants Carmine dead
Rod Fergusson is the executive producer of Gears of War 3, and he wants Clayton Carmine to die. He wore a "Carmine Must Die" t-shirt at Microsoft's Comic-Con party last night, casting his vote for the fate of the third Carmine brother, but he's willing to leave the decision up to the fans: "They kept saying, 'How can you be so mean,' and 'What about Mrs. Carmine,' and 'What's that like [losing her sons]' -- all this stuff," he told us at the event. "And so we're like, let's just question them and see what they want." Fergusson also shared a few development updates, relaying the most difficult part about designing the new Beast Mode: getting all of the playable beasts to control as solidly as Gears and Locust characters. "Just making sure the camera works from a Ticker to a Serapede to a Berserker," he explained, "just refining the technical ways of making people feel like they have control and that they're grounded in the character." It's not so much about balancing the beasts, though -- Epic wants these creatures to feel powerful, so "even if it's overbalanced a little towards the monsters, that's cool. We want to make players feel successful." Thankfully, some development components have gone down smooth. "Ice-T is kicking it as Griffin," Fergusson reconfirmed. "We recorded it this week remote from New York ... Ice is doing a great, great job -- we wanted him to be him somewhat, but he's just bringing that character to life for us. It's really fun working with him on that stuff."
Gears of War 2 XP bonus driven by Twitter
Epic is planning an extra XP event for Gears of War 2 that will coincide with next week's San Diego Comic-Con, tied to producer Rod Fergusson's Twitter account -- and designed to promote it, of course. The more followers he gets, the more XP gamers can earn during the upcoming event. It's the second massive XP handout the game has received over the last few weeks, the previous being the title's big July 4 promotion event. It's no surprise: with the game's flagging community, online woes and stiff competition, Epic's needed to come up with something to get players back. [Thanks, Chris]
Epic: Gears of War 2 Title Update 6 is 'about a week' away
Epic has posted the Title Update 6 patch notes for Gears of War 2 and the biggest bullet point has to be the ability to join matches in progress. Not only can players now join Horde matches mid-game, the update adds a new Social Xbox Live playlist which lets players join matches in progress and doesn't penalize those who quit early -- but it's only available to those who have all of the DLC. The new Social list also bypasses matchmaking screens and cycles to the next map immediately following the conclusion of the current match, cutting down on the time spent in menus. The update addresses certain exploits, such as the ability to get out of the map on Subway and Blood Drive, and also improves the pellet grouping on the Gnasher shotgun "to increase hit consistency." Rod Fergusson, senior producer on Gears, says players can look forward to downloading the update in "about a week." We'll let you know when it's live. [Thanks, Dusty] Source - Title Update 6 patch notes Source - Fergusson says update is around a week away
Epic contemplates Gears of War 2 ranking system overhaul
If you've been playing Gears of War 2 since its release in early November, then the ranking system is just one item of complaint on a list of many. Thankfully, Epic's Rod Fergusson has proposed a change in the way players are ranked, introducing an experience-based alternative on the Gears of War forums. The response was pretty much positive, as many of the comments are in favor of the proposed changes than the existing Trueskill-based system.In case you were wondering where we stand, you can bet we're in support of Rod's idea. Mainly because we've had our rank since the first day and it hasn't changed in the slightest. You'd think 10,000 kills would be enough to rank up, but then you'd be wrong.
Second Gears of War 2 update squashes bugs, adds Achievements
We've had the month of January circled in our brand new 2009 "Hot Men of Epic" calendars since we first caught wind of the promised – and much needed – second Title Update for Gears of War 2. As we cruise into the end of the month, Epic Games producer Rod Fergusson – Mr. January himself – sends word that the patch is now live as of 5am Joystiq Time. What's included in said patch? Frankly, we don't have the time (or the e-ink) to go through everything but we'll hit the big'uns. First up is multiplayer, and this update "addresses a large number" of "exploits and issues" and tosses in some "balancing tweaks" just to make things fair. For those of you looking for "moar" achievements, this update adds "7 new DLC-based gongs." Still voting with your dollars, refusing to pick up the $10 (800) Combustible map pack until all-things-multiplayer are a-okay? Let's hope this latest update gets us there but, just in case, four of those seven new achievements need only the Flashback Map Pack that came bundled free (0) with every new copy of the game. Buy it used? Steal it from that smelly kid in your dorm? No worries – $5 (400) now grabs you the maps on the Marketplace.For the full epic list, check out Mr. January's post.
Epic addresses Gears 2 matchmaking woes
Epic's Rod Fergusson has acknowledged that "longer-than-ideal wait times" are being experienced by those in Gears of War 2's multiplayer matchmaking. He explains the issue is complicated and that there "isn't any one problem" causing the extended waits. The company is currently working with Microsoft to resolve the issue and hopes to have an update soon.In the meantime, Fergusson has some helpful suggestions for those plagued with issues: If you're stuck in a matchmaking loop where it keeps restarting, try a different list. It's a "possible population issue." Issues seem to be "heightened" for parties of one and four. He recommends having a friend if you're flying solo. Having a group of five pretty much alleviates all issues. Or, if you're feeling obstinate that the system should work as intended, you can always pass the time with some reading material. We've been catching up on our 19th-century English literature. Vanity Fair is quite good.[Via X3F]
