On his weekly show over on Gametrailers.com, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has stated that he is unsure whether the Gears of War-franchise will remain exclusive to the Xbox 360 in the future, unless Microsoft agrees to pay even more than it is already doing. Unlike the rights to the Halo-franchise, which is owned by Microsoft, the rights to the Gears of War series are owned by developer Epic Games. As a result, Pachter states that he expects that multiplatform-status will at least be negotiated for any future installments after the upcoming third game. This third installment was recently revealed and is expected to launch in April 2011. While the teaser/trailer suggested that the game would be the final episode in the series, it was quickly pointed out by Epic Games that this part will only conclude the current story arch.
From a business perspective, Pachter believes the popularity of the Gears of War-franchise may eventually make it more attractive to make the games available on more than one platform, which would mean giving up the extensive marketing support from Microsoft in order to gain access to a larger potential market. Pachter states that, like any other organization in the industry, “these guys all want to make money. It is a profit deal.”