AfterGears of Warstudio headRod Fergusson announced his departure to helm Blizzard’sDiablofranchise earlier today, the future for Microsoft’s third-person shooter series might seem immediately uncertain. However, the original designer ofGears 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 threeGears of Wargames 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 musicalHadestown.

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In his Tweet, the ex-Gears of Wardesigner 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 thefinancially and critically successfulGears 5’s storyhas 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’sGears of War 4that never came to fruition, and that the series' community would respond positively to additional notes he could provide forGears 6. While that game has yet to be officially announced,Gears 5Art Director Aryan Hanbeck has suggested that its visuals may take inspiration fromThe Handmaid’s Taleon Hulu.

Bleszinski’s recent history in game design has not been the most successful, as his studioBoss Key Productions shut downin 2018 following the lukewarm performances ofLawBreakersandRadical Heights. That said, his successes have included the DOS-eraJazz Jackrabbitseries and theUnrealseries on top ofGears of War, so he does have chops in game production going back to the 90s.

WithGears 5and the bizarremobile real-time strategy gameGears POP!both in the past, Microsoft might need some help injecting new life into the series following April’sGears 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 theGears of Warfranchise he helped create.

Gears 5is available now on PC and Xbox One.

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