https://www.reddit.com/r/fuckepic/comments/dtbonn/rod_ferguson_epic_put_gears_on_the_shelf_to/
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/gears-5-boss-ninjas-stream-growing-franchise-1237425
"We began this journey with Gears of War 4 and now I feel that we’ve hit our stride with Gears 5," he says. "Part of my mission since 2014 has been, how do I grow the franchise and bring it back? Epic put it on the shelf to essentially die, so Microsoft brought it back. Not only are we trying to bring it back, we want to grow and flourish."
Gears 5 has debuted to critical praise, currently sporting an 86 percent on review aggregator site Metacritic. Meanwhile, the mobile game Gears Pop! hit one million players in its first week of release in late August. There is also the upcoming spinoff title Gears Tactics, a real-time strategy game based in the series' universe; a series of comics; a second novel; and, of course, a feature film in the works at Universal Studios, which Fergusson says he meets with producers on to discuss the script.