Canadian video game producer
Rod Fergusson
is a Canadian
video game producer
, best known for overseeing the development of the
Gears of War
franchise, originally at
Epic Games
and then as head of
The Coalition
. More recently, Fergusson moved over to
Blizzard Entertainment
to oversee development on the
Diablo
series.
Career
[
edit
]
Early years and Microsoft (1996?2005)
[
edit
]
Fergusson grew up in Ontario, Canada, and while he had an interest in video games, he thought the industry was too far out of reach for him, though he had programmed his own
multi-user dungeon
(MUD).
[1]
Fergusson started his career in 1996 at
Microsoft
, initially as part of its consulting services providing technical support to enterprise customers with
Microsoft Solutions Framework
before moving into the Redmond campus directly.
[2]
[3]
While there, an opening at
Microsoft Game Studios
under Shannon Loftis opened up, which Fergusson was able to get.
[1]
He joined Microsoft's internal simulations group, later renamed to
Aces Game Studio
, where one of the first projects he worked on was
Microsoft Train Simulator
alongside
Kuju Entertainment
.
[4]
[5]
With the release of the
first Xbox console
in 2002, Fergusson also worked with
Stormfront Studios
to help finish
Blood Wake
as a launch title for the console.
[5]
After a few months exploring a possible new internal studio within Microsoft, Fergusson returned to a producer role to help bring
Valve
's
Counter-Strike
to the Xbox, as the project at
Ritual Entertainment
was behind schedule. He helped to bring the multiplayer game to the Xbox by 2003, and assisted in setting pace for the single-player
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero
to be completed by 2003, though ultimately, Valve dropped much of Ritual's work and had the single-player game reworked by
Turtle Rock Studios
.
[1]
[5]
Epic Games (2005?2012)
[
edit
]
Between 2003 and 2005, Fergusson worked on two unannounced titles within Microsoft.
[5]
In early 2005, Fergusson was introduced to the upcoming
Gears of War
from
Epic Games
, targeted for Microsoft's new
Xbox 360
console. Fergusson described the state of the game as being "on fire" and well behind schedule, which he attributed to Epic having only one producer at the time, splitting duties between
Gears
and
Unreal Tournament 3
. Fergusson discussed the situation with Microsoft where it was determined the best route would be for him to quit Microsoft and join Epic in a full-time capacity to help get
Gears
back on track, and by July 2005, Fergusson was working at Epic as an executive producer and helping to get the game ready for release over the next 18 months.
[1]
[5]
Eventually Fergusson became director of production, participating in development for the entire
Gears of War
series.
[6]
[7]
While at Epic, Fergusson also helped with some of its other projects, including
Bulletstorm
which was also a similarly-troubled project as it neared its release window.
[5]
Another project at Epic that Fergusson helped with was the
mobile game
series
Infinity Blade
that was conceived by Donald Mustard of Epic's subsidiary
Chair Entertainment
. While Fergusson had partially helped with the design, he "[didn't] get mobile" and games that focused on endless repetition of gameplay.
[5]
Around 2012, Epic began discussions with
Tencent Holdings
as the company wanted to get into the mobile and free-to-play market, an area Tencent had great experience in. In June 2012, Tencent invested into Epic Games as to obtain a 40% minority ownership of the company, but which Epic CEO
Tim Sweeney
said would not affect the creative output of Epic Games.
[8]
Irrational Games (2012?2013)
[
edit
]
Fergusson, believing that this investment by Tencent would move Epic away from the type of "AAA, big-narrative, big-story, big-impact game" he preferred working on, left Epic and on August 9, 2012, joined
Irrational Games
as executive vice president of development during the final stretch of development of
BioShock Infinite
.
[9]
[10]
[11]
Fergusson had gained a reputation from his days at Microsoft and Epic as a "closer", a management-level position that would help bring a troubled project to completion. He was brought into this same role at Irrational as to assist the game's lead,
Ken Levine
, to make tough decisions on what content and gameplay that they needed to cut as to deliver the game following nearly
a decade of development
.
[12]
Following
BioShock Infinite
's
release in March 2013, Fergusson announced his plans to depart Irrational that April, though had not confirmed where he would go next and was remaining there for a few months to help on transition. Fergusson said "I am very proud of the work that I did and of the team and what they were able to accomplish on
Infinite
. Now with the game shipped successfully, I've done what I set out to do here and now I'm looking forward to the next chapter in my life and career."
[13]
Fergusson later said in a 2020 interview that the short period he had spent at Irrational validated the concept that he was a good "closer",
[1]
someone capable of helping to complete a troubled project to get it released on time, and for which had begun to get an industry reputation for. Fergusson said that he found himself enjoying helping to close out the development cycle of games.
[9]
[14]
In September 2013, Fergusson had been tapped to lead an upcoming new studio under
2K Games
(Irrational's parent) in the San Francisco area.
[15]
Fergusson later identified this studio as
Hangar 13
and had been working on
Mafia III
. He decided to leave due to having creative differences with the senior management at 2K.
[16]
Black Tusk/The Coalition (2014?2020)
[
edit
]
During 2013, Microsoft began talking with Epic about acquiring the
Gears of War
franchise with plans to assign it to
Black Tusk Studios
. Fergusson heard of this and contacted Microsoft, eager to work on the series again.
[9]
Microsoft affirmed the acquisition on January 27, 2014, and confirmed Fergusson would be hired into a leadership position at Black Tusk Studios.
[9]
[17]
[18]
Fergusson said "I've been privileged to work on a lot of great games with a lot of great teams, but Gears has had the most impact on me professionally and personally, so this really feels like a homecoming."
[19]
Fergusson also state that he felt that with Microsoft's resources, they would do much more with the series than at Epic.
[20]
Black Tusk was later renamed to The Coalition (based on a fictional entity within the
Gears
series) in June 2015.
[21]
Over the next three years, Fergusson helped lead development on the remastered version of the first
Gears
game and the
fourth
and
fifth
entry in the series. The last two games shifted the main character and setting for the game, which Fergusson said was meant to be comparable to the contrast between
Tim Burton
's and
Christopher Nolan
's
Batman
films
.
[1]
Blizzard (2020?present)
[
edit
]
Fergusson left the Coalition in February 2020, moving over to
Blizzard Entertainment
to oversee development of the
Diablo
series.
[22]
Video game credits
[
edit
]
Fergusson has been credited on the following games:
[23]
[
better source needed
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Van Allen, Eric (February 6, 2020).
"The Rod Fergusson Interview: How Gears of War's Studio Head Earned His Reputation as the "Closer"
"
.
USGamer
. Retrieved
February 7,
2020
.
- ^
Maiberg, Emanuel (October 3, 2016).
"Making a Big Budget Video Game Is Riskier and Harder Than Ever. So Why Do It?"
.
Motherboard
. Retrieved
July 7,
2017
.
- ^
Fergusson, Rod (2011).
Scoping Success
.
Game Developers Conference
. Retrieved
February 8,
2020
.
- ^
Hanson, Ben (August 5, 2012).
"How Simulating Trains Led To Gears of War"
.
Game Informer
.
GameStop
. Retrieved
December 23,
2014
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
Klepek, Patrick (September 11, 2019).
"
'Gears 5' Director on His Career of Salvaging Game Development Trainwrecks"
.
Vice
. Retrieved
February 8,
2020
.
- ^
Jenkins, David (April 14, 2016).
"Gears Of War 4 hands-on preview and interview ? 'We're not doing first person. We're staying true'
"
.
Metro
. Retrieved
July 7,
2017
.
- ^
Mahardy, Mike (September 26, 2013).
"Gears of War, Bioshock Infinite Dev Forming New 2K Studio"
.
IGN
. Retrieved
July 7,
2017
.
- ^
Crecente, Brian (May 5, 2016).
"The four lives of Epic Games"
.
Polygon
.
Archived
from the original on November 9, 2017
. Retrieved
July 26,
2018
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Crecente, Brian (August 1, 2014).
"The fixer: Why Rod Fergusson returned to Gears of War"
.
Polygon
.
Vox Media
. Retrieved
December 23,
2014
.
- ^
Goldfarb, Andrew (August 9, 2012).
"Gears of War Dev Joins Bioshock Infinite Team. Rob Fergusson moves to Irrational"
.
IGN
.
Ziff Davis
. Retrieved
December 23,
2014
.
- ^
Ivan, Tom (August 10, 2012).
"Epic's production boss joins BioShock dev Irrational. "I've played Infinite and it's amazing," says former Gears of War man Rod Fergusson"
.
Computer and Video Games
.
Future plc
. Archived from
the original
on September 21, 2012
. Retrieved
December 23,
2014
.
- ^
Schreier, Jason (May 10, 2021).
"A look inside BioShock Infinite's troubled development"
.
Polygon
. Retrieved
May 10,
2021
.
- ^
Crecente, Brian (April 8, 2014).
"BioShock Infinite VP of development Rod Fergusson leaving Irrational Games"
.
Polygon
.
Vox Media
. Retrieved
December 23,
2014
.
- ^
Crecente, Brian (April 8, 2013).
"BioShock Infinite VP of development Rod Fergusson leaving Irrational Games"
.
Polygon
. Retrieved
February 7,
2020
.
- ^
Ligman, Kris (September 26, 2013).
"Epic, Irrational alumnus to helm 2K's newest studio"
.
Gamasutra
. Retrieved
February 8,
2020
.
- ^
Watts, Steve (January 21, 2020).
"Gears Of War Boss Says He Left Mafia 3 Over "Creative Differences"
"
.
GameSpot
. Retrieved
February 8,
2020
.
- ^
Karmali, Luke (January 27, 2014).
"Gears of War Rights Acquired by Microsoft. Development duties handed to Black Tusk Studios"
.
IGN
.
Ziff Davis
. Retrieved
December 23,
2014
.
- ^
Makuch, Eddie (January 27, 2014).
"Microsoft buys Gears of War from Epic. Xbox maker acquires rights to the popular franchise; Black Tusk Studios taking over development duties with producer Rod Fergusson leading the team; details on new projects coming later this year"
.
GameSpot
.
CBS Interactive
. Retrieved
December 23,
2014
.
- ^
McWhertor, Michael (January 27, 2014).
"Microsoft acquires Gears of War from Epic, hires series producer Rod Fergusson"
.
Polygon
.
Vox Media
. Retrieved
December 23,
2014
.
- ^
Hicks, Jon (September 13, 2014).
"Epic streak: Rod Fergusson on bringing Gears of War to Xbox One. Series veteran talks Black Tusk, Bioshock and betraying fans"
.
Official Xbox Magazine
.
Future plc
. Archived from
the original
on September 13, 2014
. Retrieved
June 24,
2015
.
- ^
Nunneley, Stephany (June 3, 2015).
"Gears of War studio Black Tusk Studios has been renamed The Coalition"
.
VG247
.
Videogaming247
. Retrieved
October 12,
2016
.
- ^
Plunkett, Luke (February 5, 2020).
"Gears Of Wars' Boss Leaving, Will Now Oversee Diablo"
.
Kotaku
. Retrieved
February 5,
2020
.
- ^
"Rod Fergusson profile"
.
MobyGames
. Blue Flame Labs
. Retrieved
December 24,
2014
.
External links
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