In a new interview, former Gears of War lead designer Cliff Bleszinski spoke about how a first-person perspective was discussed for the fourth game in the series. Speaking to XboxEra podcast (via VGC), Bleszinski said that prior to Microsoft’s acquisition of the franchise in 2014, there was some consideration given towards changing the game from its traditional third-person perspective.
“Yeah, I can tell you I wanted to actually consider going to first-person with it,” Bleszinksi said. “Can you imagine chainsawing a Locust in first-person?”
According to the developer, Microsoft wanted to return to the horror roots of Gears of War when it bought the IP–which Bleszinski believes came as a result of Epic Games not knowing what to do with the series— and handed it over to a newly formed studio dedicated to the franchise, The Coalition. “That was Phil Spencer’s main note when Microsoft acquired the IP,” Bleszinksi added. “When talking to Rod Fergusson (former Coalition head, now Senior VP and general manager of Diablo at Blizzard) he said ‘let’s get back to the horror stuff.'”