Microsoft to take its time with Xbox One Gears of War

Microsoft studio Black Tusk is hard at work on the next Gears of War game for Xbox One - but don't expect it to release any time soon.

After Microsoft bought the Gears of War intellectual property from Epic Games, it handed development duties to Vancouver-based studio Black Tusk.

Last night Microsoft Studios boss Phil Spencer discussed the next Gears of War on Twitter, saying the team was still in the planning stage.

"Still working through plan," he wrote. "I can say first original GoW from BT has to reignite franchise and grow it, won't be a quick turn."

Then: "And I believe we've built the right team to achieve that goal, I just want to give them the time."

Spencer's mention of reigniting the franchise echoes comments he made in October last year when he discussed the future of the series following the disappointing Gears of War: Judgment.

"I want to find a great Gears game," he said.

"I thought we did a good job with Judgment, but I don't think it hit the level of quality we saw in the previous games. I think review scores showed that. Sales showed that. I really think we'd need to take a step back with Epic and think about... I don't want to call it a reboot because I think it's an overused term but think about where that franchise goes and how to expand what it was."

Spencer's comments were made before Microsoft bought the Gears of War rights from Epic.

"I think that franchise would need to be... not reworked but you'd need to think about how to expand the universe and what people are doing," he continued.

"Maybe take it more gritty, I don't know. You'd want to do something with it, because I think it did run its course on 360. And it was a great success on the 360, but it doesn't quite have a story arc of a thing like Halo or something, at least the way it's played out in the games."