We’ve some bad news for those that were hoping that the highly anticipated Gears of War movie would closely follow the events of the games. It has been revealed by Gears of War boss Rod Fergusson that, in order to allow for more creative freedom than what is found in your typical video game movie adaptation, the movie will actually take place in an alternate reality from the games, thereby being excluded from the franchise’s mainline canon.

Rod Fergusson opened up about the decision in a recent interview with IGN, stating that the film has to be “a great movie first and a Gears movie second” in order for it to be successful. “Basically the way that we sort of reconciled that was, we said, ‘oh the movie should be an alternate reality. It should not be dependent on the game story, nor should it influence the game story,” Fergusson said. He went further on to explain that the approach the studio takes with the Gears world is decidedly different from how other companies view their franchises.

I’ve heard of other franchises who come with this really large story Bible and this really sort of, here are all the rules now go and deal with 700 pages of how you live in our world. When we did it, we were two pages. I was like, ‘Here’s two pages of thou shall nots and recommendations.’ We want people to have the freedom to have new ideas and to take things differently.”

There will of course be some set in stone details that won’t deviate from the games. According to Fergusson, the story will still be set on Sera and will star certain characters in order for it to still truly be considered a Gears story. We’re still holding out for Dave Bautista being cast as Marcus Fenix.

So, thoughts on the film being set in an alternate reality? Would you prefer a straight adaptation from the games instead? Let us know in the comment section below, and as always, stay tuned to Don’t Feed the Gamers for all the latest gaming and entertainment news! Don’t forget to follow DFTG on Twitter for our 24/7 news feed!