With Microsoft just weeks away from the launch of Xbox One, there has still been no word regarding a next-gen entry in one of the biggest Xbox-exclusive franchises, Gears of War . In an interview with IGN, Microsoft Game Studios corporate VP Phil Spencer discussed the future of the franchise and what needs to change going forward.

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"I want to find a great Gears game, and I thought we did a good job with Judgment but I don't think it hit the level of quality we saw in the previous games," Spencer said on the latest episode of Podcast Unlocked . "I think review scores showed that, sales showed that, and I really think that we need to take a step back with Epic and think about -- I don't want to call it a reboot, because it's kind of an overused term, but think about where that franchise goes and how to expand what it was."Judgment is the fourth game in the Gears of War franchise, and served as a prequel to the Gears of War trilogy. It was released earlier this year, and early indications were that the game had underperformed . NPD data for its release month of March showed as the third best-selling game of the month in the United States, something that could be considered surprisingly considering the sales success of the series , and Gears of War 3 in particular Spencer said he does speak with Epic often and he would "love to have that conversation," but noted Epic is busy and has indicated that "Gears is kind of on the backburner for them." He added that Epic is "the right team to work on that game," but didn't rule out the possibility of turning to a new developer. "Trying to find another team to do that game I think is possible, but you'd want to make sure you did that very carefully along with them to make sure we have the right thing in place."And before any new Gears game is made, there are aspects of the franchise that need to be addressed. "I think that franchise would need to be, not reworked, but you need to think about how to expand the universe and what people are doing -- maybe take it more gritty, I don't know," he explained. "But you'd want to do something with it because I think it did kind of run its course on 360. ...It doesn't quite have the story arc of a thing like Halo or something, at least the way it's played out in the games, and I think we'd want to pump that up."It's worth noting that two of the key figures behind the Gears of War series -- Rod Fergusson and Cliff Bleszinski -- left Epic Games For more with Phil Spencer, check out Podcast Unlocked for the full interview.

Chris Pereira is a freelance writer who spends his spare time agonizing over the final seasons of The X-Files. Check out what he's saying on Twitter and follow him on IGN