Epic Games Vice President Mark Rein has made Gears of War fans the world over extremely happy by stating that Gears will "have a regular stream of new stuff" according to remarks made to TeamXbox. He said that the "stuff" will be arriving "within a couple of months."
Rein also alluded to the fact that a bonus is in store with the next update. "there’ll be a fun little surprise in the next update. I don’t want to say specifically what we’re going to have."
The Gears community has seen an outcry of requests for teams to be allowed into ranked games–this could certainly be what is contained in the next update. Back in November, Rein suggested that Epic might add functionality to the multiplayer in the future, without mentioning anything specific.
Gears fans were rewarded recently with two free multiplayer maps, courtesy of the Discovery Channel’s Future Weapons television show. Will the next update from Epic Games also be free? Rein sidestepped the issue and didn’t confirm or deny this, but did say, "There’s a lot of pressure on us, having the leading game on the platform, to be part of the downloadable economy… there’s external pressure on us to participate in that."
While free is always the preferred choice of the gaming community, there are costs associated with developing and delivering content to users, and a freebie may not be in the cards for Gears fans this time around. But on the off chance that the new "stuff" is free, it will certainly continue to foster the strong loyalty that Gears players have expressed for the title. In any event, the promise of a continual wave of new material for Gears of War is a good indication that Epic isn’t planning to rest on its laurels, and is instead taking the necessary steps to further improve gamers’ experience.
The excellent customer support for Gears of War is in direct contrast to the recent Call of Duty 3 Valor map pack, which was released last month. Upon being purchased and downloaded, gamers discovered that none of the maps were functional. The resulting anger and frustration leveled at developer Treyarch was harsh and critical of the company’s history of releasing seriously bug-ridden games and patches. While Treyarch has caused its customers to throw up their hands in aggravation, Epic has shown that if superior software is sold, and customers are taken care of, the rewards are not only monetary in nature. These things also establish brand trust, which often translates into increased future sales for the studios involved.
With additional reporting by Chris Pereira.
