Rod Fergusson | |
|---|---|
 Fergusson at the 2011Game Developers Conference | |
| Occupation | Game producer |
| Years active | 1996–present |
| Employer(s) | Microsoft (1996–2005) Epic Games (2005–2012) Irrational Games (2012–2013) The Coalition (2014–2020) Blizzard Entertainment (2020–present) |
Rod Fergusson is a Canadianvideo game producer, best known for overseeing the development of theGears of War franchise, originally atEpic Games and then as head ofThe Coalition. More recently, Fergusson moved over toBlizzard Entertainment to oversee development on theDiablo series.
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 ownmulti-user dungeon (MUD).[1]
Fergusson started his career in 1996 atMicrosoft, initially as part of its consulting services providing technical support to enterprise customers withMicrosoft Solutions Framework before moving into the Redmond campus directly.[2][3] While there, an opening atMicrosoft Game Studios under Shannon Loftis opened up, which Fergusson was able to get.[1] He joined Microsoft's internal simulations group, later renamed toAces Game Studio, where one of the first projects he worked on wasMicrosoft Train Simulator alongsideKuju Entertainment.[4][5] With the release of thefirst Xbox console in 2002, Fergusson also worked withStormfront Studios to help finishBlood 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 bringValve'sCounter-Strike to the Xbox, as the project atRitual Entertainment was behind schedule. He helped to bring the multiplayer game to the Xbox by 2003, and assisted in setting pace for the single-playerCounter-Strike: Condition Zero to be completed by 2003, though ultimately, Valve dropped much of Ritual's work and had the single-player game reworked byTurtle Rock Studios.[1][5]
Between 2003 and 2005, Fergusson worked on two unannounced titles within Microsoft.[5] In early 2005, Fergusson was introduced to the upcomingGears of War fromEpic Games, targeted for Microsoft's newXbox 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 betweenGears andUnreal 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 getGears 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 entireGears of War series.[6][7] While at Epic, Fergusson also helped with some of its other projects, includingBulletstorm which was also a similarly-troubled project as it neared its release window.[5]
Another project at Epic that Fergusson helped with was themobile game seriesInfinity Blade that was conceived by Donald Mustard of Epic's subsidiaryChair 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 withTencent 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 CEOTim Sweeney said would not affect the creative output of Epic Games.[8]
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, joinedIrrational Games as executive vice president of development during the final stretch of development ofBioShock 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 nearlya decade of development.[12]
FollowingBioShock 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 onInfinite. 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 under2K Games (Irrational's parent) in the San Francisco area.[15] Fergusson later identified this studio asHangar 13 and had been working onMafia III. He decided to leave due to having creative differences with the senior management at 2K.[16]
During 2013, Microsoft began talking with Epic about acquiring theGears of War franchise with plans to assign it toBlack 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 theGears series) in June 2015.[21] Over the next three years, Fergusson helped lead development on the remastered version of the firstGears game and thefourth andfifth 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 betweenTim Burton's andChristopher Nolan'sBatman films.[1]
Fergusson left the Coalition in February 2020, moving over toBlizzard Entertainment to oversee development of theDiablo series.[22]
Fergusson has been credited on the following games:[23][better source needed]
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