Mark Rein would prefer the figure started at $2 billion.

Gears of War screenshot

Speaking to Develop, Epic Games vice president Mark Rein has revealed he hasn't actually seen the article by GamePro which suggests the video game developer and middleware creator is to be bought by Microsoft in the summer for a sum of $1 billion.

However, this hasn't stopped the vocal vp from doubling the proposed fee for the company.

"I have not seen the actual GamePro article but if they're going to make predictions about us selling Epic we would prefer if they started at $2 billion," said Rein. "Because we don't want anyone thinking that we're cheap."

At the moment the proposed Epic Games acquisition by Microsoft is still nothing more than rumour and it's unlikely we'll hear anything on the subject at GDC this week. One area in which we are promised info is Microsoft's gaming business, relating to games heading to its platforms this year - one of which we're hoping will be Gears of War 2.

All, hopefully, will be revealed during tomorrow's keynote by John Schappert, Corporate Vice President LIVE, Software and Services for the Interactive Entertainment Business.