Rein: Gears GM change is "normal"

Vice president of Epic Games, Mark Rein, has told Eurogamer that former EA Chicago man Kudo Tsunoda's installation as general manager for Gears of War "is a normal reorganisation at Microsoft" and that he's looking forward to working with him.

"In practical terms this is a normal reorganisation at Microsoft," Rein explained in an email. "They're a huge company with something like 70,000 employees and they re-organise their structure on a fairly regular basis.

"Kudo will be the GM in charge of the studio that oversees MGS/Epic publishing relationship. Our previous GM is moving over to the studio that oversees the Halo franchise where there's more action going on.

"We had dinner with Kudo during D.I.C.E. and I think we'll have fun working with him as we've had with all the folks we've worked with at Microsoft over the years," he added.

Tsunoda, whose previous work includes Fight Night Round 3 and Def Jam Icon at the now-defunct EA Chicago, is said to report to Microsoft Games boss Don Mattrick, and apparently started in his new position last Monday.

But Microsoft Game Studios corporate VP Shane Kim has denied that this should be construed as some kind of confirmation of future Gears of War titles - something that Rein's response also seems to reflect.