Microsoft’s “Gears of War” video game franchise is headed to the big screen.

The film adaptation, announced during a livestream for the upcoming release of “Gears of War 4,” is being developed with Universal Pictures under the eye of veteran film producers Scott Stuber (“Ted,” “The Kingdom”) and Dylan Clark (“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”). A movie based on the popular third-person shooter franchise has been rumored for years, but Rod Fergusson, studio head of game developer The Coalition, said now was the right time to make the leap to film.

“As a way to support the franchise the next logical step was to make the movie,” Fergusson told Variety. “We’d done comics and novels in the past but the opportunity to work with Universal to bring the movie to life was perfect.”

It’s unclear at this point whether the film will be a straight adaptation of the games, which originally followed soldier Marcus Fenix in his fight against an invading threat known as the Locust, or if it will be an all-new story set in the universe.

“I think you have to let the movies be the movies,” Fergusson said. “They’re two different mediums, and two different audiences in some cases, and I think some video game movies in the past have failed because they tried to make a movie for gamers. If you have this great IP with a deep backstory and lots of lore that you can make interesting stories out of it’s great, but if you just go after the gaming audience then it isn’t going to be a successful movie.

“That’s one of the great things about working with Universal,” he continued. “We’re finding that line where we can say it has enough lore and canon that it feels genuine to the game while at the same time going beyond that and asking ‘OK what makes a great movie?'”

You don’t have to wait until the film to jump back into the “Gears of War” universe. “Gears of War 4” will be released on Xbox One and Microsoft Windows on Oct. 11.

EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures has set Shane Salerno to write the screenplay for Gears Of War, the big-scale live-action adaptation of Microsoft Studios’ iconic Xbox video game franchise. Universal-based Dylan Clark is producing.

Universal and Microsoft announced their collaboration on the game in late 2016. At the time, Rod Fergusson, head of Microsoft subsidiary The Coalition that develops new Gears Of War content and the franchise co-creator, said the film would not be based on any particular game but instead be a new story set in the universe. That universe is the fictional planet of Sera, where a squad of beefed-up commandos living in a bombed-out postapocalyptic society battle swarms of alien creatures called Locusts.

The first game, developed by Epic and released in 2006, has spawned sequels that have put the game series at north of $1 billion in grosses. It is considered one of the most iconic video game success stories that defined the first generation of HD gaming and is played by more than 45 million gamers worldwide. Microsoft acquired the franchise in 2014, when co-creator Fergusson returned to lead The Coalition, the Microsoft development studio focused exclusively on Gears Of War.

Salerno’s current writing credits include the four sequels to Avatar for director James Cameron, which begin shooting in August, as well as writing and producing The Cartel for Ridley Scott to direct at 20th Century Fox, based on the bestselling Don Winslow novel. That film is eyeing a tentative January production start. His other credits include the Michael Bay-directed Armageddon and the Oliver Stone-directed Savages.

Gears Of War Ultimate Edition was released for Xbox One and Windows 10 in late 2015. Per Microsoft, it has seen more 3 million players since then, with more than half new to the franchise. Gears of War 4 launched October 11 as Microsoft’s holiday tentpole release for Xbox One and Windows 10.

Universal EVP Production Jon Mone is overseeing for Universal and SVP Jay Ireland will oversee for Clark. Marc Sachnoff will oversee the project for Xbox. Salerno is represented by CAA and Sloane Offer.