Gears of War 4 was the first brand-new entry in the series made internally at Microsoft after it acquired the series from Epic Games in 2014. It was the first game that creator Cliff Bleszinski did not work on (though Epic had its own ideas for a fourth Gears of War game). Now, Bleszinski has spoken out to say he has mixed feelings about Gears of War 4.

"What [Gears of War developer The Coalition boss Rod Fergusson] did was give the people what that want. He did the J.J. Abrams Episode VII," he said, referencing Star Wars: The Force Awakens. "I've watched Episode VII five times. I still get misty-eyed and get all excited but when I think objectively about it, I'm like, 'There wasn't a lot of risk there.' So I'm hoping they take a little bit more risk in the future."

Gears of War 4 received a generally positive critical response. GameSpot's review scored the Xbox One and PC game a 7/10, with reviewer Mike Mahardy saying the game was "teetering on the edge of something greater..."

Microsoft has not announced any new Gears of War games, but that's more a question of when not if. Xbox boss Phil Spencer has suggested that a non-shooter Gears of War game could happen.

"Definitely when we got the team together and talked about the future of Gears of War, I think there's multiple ways that you can tell that story," he said. "Multiple gameplay genres. I think it's a really big IP and it's an IP that could exist in linear form, in books--we've seen that; in different gaming genres."

Bleszinski's current project is the PC shooter LawBreakers, which enters closed beta this week. Asked if the game could come to console, Bleszinski reiterated that developer Boss Key is "talking to people," but stopped short of confirming anything.

"I would love for nothing more than for that to happen but it's business. We'll see," he said.

Also in our interview, which was conducted at PAX East in Boston, Bleszinski reflected on some of the franchises that he helped create.

"Standing in this great booth at Nexon ... it was funny because Bulletstorm's right next to it, the remaster. Then over to my left there's like a Gears of War 4 photo booth. I'm sitting here going like, 'This is f***ing weird.' It feels good. I like making new IP," he said.

"In the back of my head I'm thinking about all the nasty comments I've ever read in my entire career and I'm like, 'Haha, call me next time you're on a show floor and there's three IPs that you were instrumental in creating."

Finally, Bleszinski offered a tease that LawBreakers may not be the last franchise he creates.

"I'm not done yet," he said.