Having worked on every entry in the history of theÂGears of WarÂfranchise, The Coalition’s studio head Rod Fergusson today announced that he is leaving the developer to begin a new venture elsewhere.Fergusson made the surprising announcement over on Twitter this afternoon where he revealed that his time with The Coalition has now come to an end. Fergusson joined the Vancouver-based studio in 2014 when it was still known as Black Tusk Studios alongside the announcement that Microsoft had acquired theGears of WarIP. Having previously worked on the series at Epic Games, Fergusson was instilled as the studio’s new leader and began on what would becomeGears of War 4. Since that time, Fergusson also served as director ofÂGears 5and also announcedÂGears Tactics, which will release later this year.“I began working onGears of Warover 15 years ago and since then, it has been the joy of my life. But now it’s time for a new adventure,” Fergusson said on Twitter. “I leave Gears in the great hands of The Coalition and can’t wait for everyone to playGears Tacticson April 28.”

As for what’s next for Fergusson, we already know where his next move will be. In a follow-up tweet, Fergusson revealed that he’ll be joining Blizzard Entertainment starting in March and will be serving as the head of theDiabloseries. This move comes only a few months afterÂDiablo 4was revealed during BlizzCon 2019.

Fergusson is the second major lead at a studio to announce that they’ll soon be embarking on a new adventure. Just yesterday, it was revealed by Take-Two Interactive thatRockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser would be departing the companyafter taking extended time off in 2019. Where Houser might end up next hasn’t been revealed as of this writing.

In my own opinion, Fergusson is a major loss to The Coalition. While there are likely many at the studio who are well-familiar with theÂGears of Warseries, perhaps no one else knows more about the franchise than Fergusson himself. The thought of a futureÂGears of Wartitle that doesn’t have his fingerprints on it in some way is a bit odd, but The Coalition is a talented studio that will surely continue to create quality games in the series moving forward.

Conversely, this is a pretty major acquisition for Blizzard. In a time where the developer has come under fire for a string of reasons (most recently being the quality ofWarcraft 3: Reforged), the presence of Fergusson on theDiabloteam will surely have an impact moving forward. If you’ve been down on Blizzard in recent years like many have, let’s hope that Fergusson can help to turn things around.