When video game console rivals Microsoft and Sony released their respective new generations systems in November, the battle over video game profits extended beyond just the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Considering that most of the profits in the video game industry come not from the console itself but rather from the video games that are sold for it, the companies are in a battle over rights to the most popular video game franchises.

On Monday, Microsoft bought the rights to Gears of War in order to keep the video game on Xbox consoles and out of Sony's PlayStation product line. So far, Gears of War had been only available for play on Xbox consoles and Windows-powered personal computers. Buying the rights from studio Epic Games allows Microsoft to ensure that a version of the game will never come out for PlayStation, meaning you'll need an Xbox One if you want to play it at all.

Epic Games studio founder Tim Sweeney was happy with the deal, commenting that "We're very proud of the franchise we built in close partnership with Microsoft over the past decade and are happy that this agreement enables Microsoft to forge ahead with the 'Gears' universe on their industry-leading platforms as Epic concentrates its efforts on new projects."

It is unknown how much Microsoft paid Epic Games but the deal includes rights to all existing and future Gears of War games. Microsoft said that Black Tusk Studios in Vancouver will take over primary development role in the franchise, with Epic Games playing a supporting role.

The new consoles from Sony and Microsoft were released to coincide with the holiday season and performed extraordinarily well, raking in $1.37 billion out of $4.26 billion profits on videogame hardware sales for the year. An additional $2.4 billion was spent on games alone in December.