After Gears of War studio head Rod Fergusson announced his departure to helm Blizzard's Diablo franchise earlier today, the future for Microsoft's third-person shooter series might seem immediately uncertain. However, the original designer of Gears of War, Cliff Bleszinski, expressed an interest in coming back to consult for future games on Twitter, offering Microsoft a potential bevy of "unused ideas."

Bleszinski worked on the first three Gears of War games before the property was sold by its original developers, Epic Games. Afterward he moved on to a number of ventures including opening his own game studio, and according to his Twitter bio owning two restaurants as well as co-producing the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Hadestown.

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In his Tweet, the ex-Gears of War designer said that Fergusson left ideas contributed by himself and former Epic Games Lead Designer Lee Perry (who also worked on the original trilogy) on the cutting room floor. That's saying a lot considering how interesting the financially and critically successful Gears 5's story has been to long-time fans, particularly with its sequel-bait ending.

In another Tweet, Bleszinski said there are ideas he believed would have been great going back to 2016's Gears of War 4 that never came to fruition, and that the series' community would respond positively to additional notes he could provide for Gears 6. While that game has yet to be officially announced, Gears 5 Art Director Aryan Hanbeck has suggested that its visuals may take inspiration from The Handmaid's Tale on Hulu.

Bleszinski's recent history in game design has not been the most successful, as his studio Boss Key Productions shut down in 2018 following the lukewarm performances of LawBreakers and Radical Heights. That said, his successes have included the DOS-era Jazz Jackrabbit series and the Unreal series on top of Gears of War, so he does have chops in game production going back to the 90s.

With Gears 5 and the bizarre mobile real-time strategy game Gears POP! both in the past, Microsoft might need some help injecting new life into the series following April's Gears Tactics. Perhaps there's something to be said about taking in an old friend like Bleszinski who has had time to really gestate on what could be a fresh take for the Gears of War franchise he helped create.

Gears 5 is available now on PC and Xbox One.

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