<P> Gears of War is a video game franchise created by Epic Games, developed and managed by The Coalition, and owned and published by Microsoft Studios . The series focuses on the conflict between humanity, the subterranean reptilian hominids known as the Locust Horde, and their mutated counterparts, the Lambent & the Swarm . The franchise consists of five third - person shooter video games, which has also been supplemented by a comic book series and five novels . </P> <P> The first installment, titled Gears of War, was released on November 7, 2006 for the Xbox 360 . The game follows protagonist Marcus Fenix, a soldier in the Coalition of Ordered Governments tasked to lead a last - ditch effort to destroy the Locust Horde and save humanity . Two subsequent titles, Gears of War 2 (2008) and Gears of War 3 (2011), continued Fenix and humanity's ongoing conflict with the Locust Horde and Lambent forces . In 2013, Epic Games and Microsoft released Gears of War: Judgment, a prequel to the series' first title, which instead focuses on Damon Baird, one of Fenix's squad - mates . Gears of War: Ultimate Edition was released for Microsoft Windows on March 1, 2016 . The series' third sequel, Gears of War 4, is set 25 years after Gears of War 3 and follows Marcus Fenix's son, JD, as he battles a new resurrected Locust Horde that once again threaten humanity . </P> <P> Gears of War was developed by Epic Games . Cliff Bleszinski, who has previously worked on Epic's Unreal Tournament games, served the series' lead game designer for the first three installments . He was inspired by gameplay elements from Resident Evil 4, Kill Switch, and Bionic Commando . The series was also guided by Rod Fergusson, the executive producer and director of development of Epic Games until 2012 . The first four installments of the Gears of War series used a modified version of the Unreal Engine 3 engine . On January 27, 2014, Microsoft acquired all rights to the franchise from Epic Games . Canadian studio The Coalition developed Gears of War 4, which was released on October 11, 2016 for the Xbox One and Windows 10 . </P> <P> Gears of War became one of the best - selling franchises for the Xbox 360 . The series is well known for its emphasis on cover - based combat, in which players can use objects to avoid gunfire or safely engage enemies . All five installments in Gears of War featured several multiplayer modes that allowed players to compete against each other or team - up to battle AI opponents on Xbox Live . The Gears of War games have been amongst the most popular and most played titles on Xbox Live . </P>

Who designed the characters for gears of war