Epic Acquires Majority Stake in Painkiller and Gears of War PC Developer People Can Fly

In a surprising move, Epic Games today announced it had acquired a majority interest in Poland-based studio People Can Fly, the creator of the Painkiller series and recent developer of the Gears of War PC port. The deal apparently came about when People Can Fly was evaluating Epic's Unreal Engine 3 for a new project. Epic then hired the developer for Gears of War PC, and began working with them on a new IP. "PCF showed us their early prototypes within only a few weeks and we were totally blown away," said Epic vice president Mark Rein. "The quality of their work was extremely high, and knew we had to find a way to work more closely with them in the future." "Their work was outstanding," added Epic president Dr. Michael Capps. "The multiplayer levels they created for Gears PC look as good or better than the original. How could we not jump at the opportunity to work together on a long-term basis?"