Microsoft has announced that they have officially acquired the rights to Gears of War, this includes all existing and and future games. Microsoft also announced their studio Black Tusk will be working on the next installment to the Gears of War series. Phil Spencer Microsoft Studio Corporate Vice President has stated:
“The thing we showed at E3 last year, it was something that was done in Unreal and more of a concept piece”
Black Tusk Studios is set to develop Gears of War, and the concept is now scraped. We will find out more once it becomes available.