Thu, Oct 04, 2012 | 08:12 BST
Cliff Bleszinski announces departure from Epic Games
Cliff Bleszinski has announced his departure from Epic Games as its design director, in order to move on to the “next stage of his career.”
Bleszinski announced his departure from the firm on Epic’s website.
“Cliff has been my friend and business associate for the past 20 years and, while it is sad to see him move on from Epic, I know that everyone here has benefitted greatly from his passion for gaming and the depth of his expertise and experience,” said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic. “I’ll miss watching his star shine from such a close vantage point but I’ll still look forward to watching his continued success.”
Bleszinsk said he leaves the company, knowing that its many projects are in capable hands.
“I’ve been doing this since I was a teenager, and outside of my sabbatical last year, I have been going non-stop,” he said. “I literally grew up in this business, as Mike [Capps] likes to say. And now that I’m grown up, it’s time for a much needed break.
“I will miss the projects, the playtests, the debates, and most importantly, the people. Epic only hires the best of the best, and it has been a joy working with each and every one of you on a daily basis, whether you were hired weeks ago or decades ago. I have been fortunate enough to collaborate with a variety of disciplines, from code to art to marketing and PR – it’s been one big, rewarding learning experience.
“I’m confident that each project that is being built, whether at Epic, Chair, PCF, or Impossible will be top notch and will please gamers and critics alike.”
For two decades, Bleszinski was behind many successful games starting with Jazz Jackrabbit and ending with the Gears of War series.
“In 20 wonderful years with Epic, Cliff Bleszinski has grown into a true design luminary, and his contributions to the ‘Unreal’ and ‘Gears’ series have helped shape the game industry into what it is today,” said Tim Sweeney, Epic’s founder, CEO and technical director.
“Cliff leaves Epic with our gratitude for his many contributions, and our wishes for continued success in the next chapter of his life!”
“In my 10 years of working with Cliff, his passion for creating video games of the highest quality has been unflinching,” said president Dr. Michael Capps. “We are grateful for all of his hard work, and remain committed to making our fans happy and to always raising the bar in everything we do at Epic.”
VG247 wishes Cliff the best of luck in his future endeavors.
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Posted in: Development
Tags: Cliff Bleszinski, Epic Games
49 comments
#1
rrw
03/10/12, 10:33 pm
woah, Epic news
#2
absolutezero
03/10/12, 10:34 pm
Rock Clifford B the Third, broest of bro devs king of broskis everywhere.
#3
KrazyKraut
03/10/12, 10:35 pm
@1 +1
#4
AHA-Lambda
03/10/12, 10:36 pm
HOLY FUCK!!!
#5
Maximum Payne
03/10/12, 10:37 pm
This also reminds me little bit of when Patrick left Ubisoft for ”break” and then he went on with THQ.
Because he was also in the middle of production with Brotherhood and he is also in middle of with Gears:Judgement.
#6
DSB
03/10/12, 10:39 pm
Hmmmm. Cliff Bleszinski and Rod Fergusson.
#7
Talkar
03/10/12, 10:39 pm
This is the greatest news today
#8
Lahanas
03/10/12, 10:39 pm
What worries me here is that many basic members of the Gears team are now gone. Im afraid the next Gears games (if there are any) will not be as good…
#9
Dark
03/10/12, 10:41 pm
He is going to join MS
#10
Sini
03/10/12, 10:42 pm
douche is going capcom. Accepting $5 bets.
#11
rrw
03/10/12, 10:50 pm
@9 that too obvious. pretty sure he will join nintendo
#12
KrazyKraut
03/10/12, 10:50 pm
I think he is going to form a new studio with someone.
Or he is going back to his old partner at Guerilla Games^^
#13
Johnny Cullen
03/10/12, 10:55 pm
@12 His old partner at Guerrilla is now at Visceral Games, I think.
#14
Edo
03/10/12, 11:16 pm
Well,that’s a surprise.He was really passionate about his job(probably the only thing I liked about him)and I hope whatever he does next he will keep that trait.
#15
Noodlemanny
03/10/12, 11:45 pm
Wow. I wonder how long he intends to take off.
#16
Fin
03/10/12, 11:54 pm
He’ll start making casual/social/iPhone/BS games.
#17
xino
04/10/12, 12:14 am
@1
epic news INDEED!
It was a shocker to see the headline…I was like “no way!”
lol
wonder what he would be doing.
would he be working on “cool stuff” like Stig is doing?:P
#18
daytripper
04/10/12, 12:31 am
Don’t think he will go anywhere for a while, my bet is some holidays then start a family with his wife. Good luck Cliffy, all the best.
#19
Erthazus
04/10/12, 1:09 am
I want to quit gaming.
I mean… something is happening in this industry in this generation.
#20
daytripper
04/10/12, 1:11 am
@19 Your being lined up to make UT4, don’t go anywhere yet
#21
JimFear-666
04/10/12, 1:13 am
knowing the fact that he is a die hard xbox 360 fanboy im not gonna be surprised if he join microsoft sooner or later.
#22
daytripper
04/10/12, 1:20 am
He actually favours Nintendo the most out of three console makers, he makes a game exclusive to one platform and bigs up that platform, hardly being a fanboy is it?
#23
Dragon246
04/10/12, 2:44 am
EPIC departure of UNREAL proportions indeed. Hope he continuously makes games with his ENGINE running on full steam.
#24
TD_Monstrous69
04/10/12, 4:43 am
Talk about an Epic shake-up at Epic Games. Wish Cliffy B nothing but the best, looking forward to whatever he makes next.
#25
Keivz
04/10/12, 4:54 am
@24
Couldn’t agree more. I liked this guy the more I listened to him and appreciate his passion for the medium. I look forward to his next gaming project.
#26
Kuwabara
04/10/12, 7:56 am
what dos xbox 720 have now that bungie for Halo are gone, and gears of war mastermind cliffy.
#27
Da Man
04/10/12, 8:55 am
Great news, maybe Epic will make a good videogame now.
#28
Dave Cook
04/10/12, 8:59 am
@27 such a stupid thing to say. Jesus.
#29
Da Man
04/10/12, 9:03 am
Only good videogame they ever designed was Shadow Complex.
If Tim Sweeny leaves on the other hand..
#30
hives
04/10/12, 9:05 am
Good. Take a break, Cliffy, then come back and start a new studio and make online competetive oldschool shooter like Unreal Tournament <3
#31
Dave Cook
04/10/12, 9:15 am
@29 yeah man but come on
All of those millions of people who bought Epic’s Games can’t have all been wrong, can they?
Oh shit…can they? :O
#32
Talkar
04/10/12, 9:15 am
@28
Considering how Cliff has treated the PC crowd it is really expected that people don’t like him…
#33
roadkill
04/10/12, 9:20 am
“Douche leaves Epic.” This should have been the news title.
#34
Fin
04/10/12, 9:29 am
@32
Yeah bro, the PC master race is so easy to please.
#35
KrazyKraut
04/10/12, 9:35 am
@31 hehe xD
Gears maybe not the most intelligent game franchises, but a lot of fun. But they didn’t invent their famous cover system!
I think my fave game where he worked on is still Unreal Tournament 99…
#36
Talkar
04/10/12, 9:35 am
@34
It is actually. I don’t know if i would call it a master race, but sure you can call it that if you like.
All you have to do to please them is to provide options that was implemented as a standard a decade or so ago, instead of removing them, and provide proper controls.
That is it! It isn’t really that hard.
#37
Fin
04/10/12, 9:51 am
@36
Are you serious? PC gamers are the most fickle, entitled bunch of the lot.
We both know it’s not just about options and controls. It’s about DRM (Ubisoft, Blizzard), textures/graphics (RAGE), multiplayer (BF3′s web browser server list), social hooks, dedicated servers (Call of Duty), the “dumbing down” of games (Mass Effect, Diablo).
I’m pretty sure people complained about Portal 2 because, wait for it, a console button prompt was accidently left in the PC version. You think console players would complain about a button prompt having a keyboard key on it?
The idea of the PC master race was probably formed because people who play on PC obviously have access to the internet (despite complaining about always-on DRM), and therefore are the loudest gaming group, despite only accounting for about 20% (or less) of multiplatform titles.
#38
roadkill
04/10/12, 11:35 am
@37 “We both know it’s not just about options and controls. It’s about DRM (Ubisoft, Blizzard), textures/graphics (RAGE), multiplayer (BF3′s web browser server list), social hooks, dedicated servers (Call of Duty), the “dumbing down” of games (Mass Effect, Diablo).” Oh why would I want to play a single player game (which I payed for) while I’m in vacation with no internet connection available to me!? The audacity!! Also textures, graphics? No!!! We need to go back to text mode! And a server browser list.. Wow!! Who needs that!? I can just memorize IPs and enter them into some console! And dedicated servers.. don’t even get me started on those! Why have low latency when I can have high pings and packet loss!? That’s the s**t right there! And the dumbing down of games… I’m telling you, it’s because the keyboard and mouse are so limited. Surely the gamepads offer so much more freedom. Also console gamers are smart and PC players are dumb a** losers.
#39
Talkar
04/10/12, 11:37 am
@37
All the problems you just mentioned, except the DRM issue, is all a factor concerning consoles forcing developers to create an inferior product.
How would you like it if car manufactures were forced to make cars that could only run 50km/h because some countries only have a specific fuel that can’t handle normal gasoline?
#40
Fin
04/10/12, 11:48 am
@38
Thanks for proving my point!
@39
That’s a bad analogy. It’s more like, everyone’s limited to 100km/h because that’s the maximum speed 80% of all users can go at. It’s fine for them, it’d be fine for the other 20% if they weren’t so anal.
#41
Da Man
04/10/12, 12:00 pm
Every game they made could ‘ve been designed by any random brah, and still would be the same dull tech demo.
Only thing lost now is the dude brah marketing.
#42
Talkar
04/10/12, 12:05 pm
@40
So by your logic we should limit the minority because the majority is limited?
So because 13% of children under 5 die of malaria in Uganda, and “only” 7% die from HIV/AIDS there should only be treatment for malaria. Good to know what kind of person you are. Oh and just to provide some sources to prove that i for one aren’t making up numbers, here you go http://www.who.int/gho/countries/uga.pdf
#43
Da Man
04/10/12, 12:09 pm
Every time you play Gears of War, a PC gamer dies.
#44
Gadzooks!
04/10/12, 12:16 pm
#42
Context You
#43
Makes it all the sweeter.
#45
Gadzooks!
04/10/12, 12:24 pm
Gah, forum dont like anglebrackets.
That was supposed to read: Context over here, You waaaaaaay over there.
Comparing PCs to dying children.
Classy. Not.
#46
BULArmy
04/10/12, 12:24 pm
I really want on;y one thing from Epic UT2k4 HD. Don’t change anything, jsut do it on Unreal Engine 4. The best game Epic made.
#47
OlderGamer
04/10/12, 12:52 pm
Looking forward to what cliffy does next.
#48
Erthazus
04/10/12, 12:54 pm
@46, After CliffyB departure I don’t see them doing any Unreal game.
But UT2k4 on UE4 could be awesomesauce. It’s the only FPS game where you can make flip by doing right combination where skill matters. Not to mention abut double jump and fast paced gameplay like no other…
Ehh. I can dream about it anyway. It’s all about Gears and few iOS spin offs.
#49
roadkill
04/10/12, 5:42 pm
@40 You’re welcome. It wasn’t hard really. You made it really easy. Like a drunk girl at a party.