Bleszinski talks leaving Epic
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Former design director at Gears of War studio says 20 years at the company left him "burnt out."
Cliff Bleszinski left Epic Games last year because he was "burnt out" and no longer had a personal project he was deeply invested in, the developer explained on his newly launched Tumblr page.
"I was burnt out after 20 years of working there," Bleszinski wrote. "I also feel that in becoming the overall 'master of the fun' as Design Director I didn’t have 'my baby' project any longer, which was something that I really missed."
Since leaving the Gears of War studio, Bleszinski has said he may open a new studio and get to work on a project code-named Silverstreak. At the same time, he did not rule out the possibility of joining an established developer and has met with numerous companies, including Activision and Electronic Arts.
Whatever the case, Bleszinski said he enjoys not doing much in the way of anything in his post-Epic career, but also feels the urge to get back to making games.
"Some days I wake up at noon, shuffle around the house, do nothing, and I love it," he said. "Other days I'm rip roaring and ready to go. I miss the fun playtests, the interactions with co-workers. I miss getting new builds with code progress to test, and sitting with a coder or artist and nudging things until they feel perfect."
"I miss the comic con fans, the fan tattoos, the cosplayers, the folks who got married after they met online in our games, the reviews, the fun business trips," he added. "I don't miss the deadlines, the hours, the cynical journalists who twist your words, the jaded gamers, and the difficulty of development."
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
120 comments
Cliffy B wear some tighter shirts and go back to the longer hair. I liked you better that way. Also make a modern Jazz the Jackrabbit please. I know they said no post epic games in the article, but I hope for that or something completely new.
I think this goes to proove that developers usually only have 1 game or series idea in them before they hit a brick wall. I can see why people dislike the guy, its only laughable reasons from the socially awkward idiots. However people fail to realise this guy was behind this gens high-standard. It was Cliff who pushed gears of war which pushed the 360 to upgrade its RAM. I can not think of any new "exclusive" franchise from this gen that is better than gears of war. There is uncharted but I would argue that it has a poor mulitplayer and the gears of war single player isnt that bad to say Uncharted is loads better.
@o0squishy0o It's not that they have one game. Before you get a name in the industry, you're an unknown quantity. But once you DO have a name, everyone wants what you made before. :-S No one wants to hear about Blesz's ideas for a racing or a tactical RPG. They want "Gears of War in non Gears of War trademarked format so we can get as rich as Epic" It's a massive slog to grind through meeting after meeting, forcing pitch after pitch, to try and change your gaming direction or push a whole new IP.
I think he met with EA & Activision for publishing options for silver-streak rather they're probably bugging him now that he's "available" *shutter* poor guy...
I feel the same way with my job. I can relate to this and have considered doing the same thing more than once.
2 Like I'm starting to think Bleszinski is spending so much time weighing up his options, that he'll end up burning himself out all over again.
@klasco The last bit was like a developer giving feedback to fans, quite, well, epic so to say!
He's was at Epic for 20 years? So he was working there when he was 13? I thought he was somewhere between 28-35 years of age. I guess he just ages well. No way in hell he's over 40.
@tightwad34He is born in '75. This is a quote from Wikipedia:
''His first commercial game was made at age 17: an independently developed point-and-click adventure game called The Palace of Deceit: Dragon's Plight. Bleszinski created the game while he was a student at Bonita High School in La Verne, California, and released it in 1991 via his own company, Game Syndicate Productions. He also sent a copy of the game to Tim Sweeney, the founder of Epic Games (then known as Epic MegaGames). Sweeney was impressed with the game and brought Bleszinski onboard at Epic.''
7 Like The energy at this site is terrible. So much hate from gamers these days. Is starting to have me question exactly what effect gaming has on people. I used to laugh when hearing ideas about the effects of violent games on peoples personalities , but I don't know anymore. Some of the things people say in here, are vile.
You are right. Gamers act like trash on here, but it's because they have no other outlets. Half the people on these forums lack social skills or even a girlfriend. A socially awkward person always has flaws. Look at the comments, they are very apparent. I also agree with the violence. I can see it getting out of hand on these forums, but these losers are just releasing rage from not having girlfriends.
9 Like @darkfall_225 That's not games, that's the reality of those people's natures being revealed thanks to internet anonymity.
@Link3301 I have no problem telling people what I think face to face. However I do choose not to insult unless someone deserves it.
I hope you find an ego, because your statement clearly states you lack taste and you're probably jealous. Where is your body of work? Oh.. wait, you're on a forum, hating on the meek.
1 Like @tommygun6644 Let's see...the guy creates one of the most well respected series in the modern history of gaming. He's been earning a living in something he loves since he was a teen. He's married to a gorgeous and intelligent woman. He's an extremely smart and creative guy. If anyone deserves to be a little egotistic, it's him. Listen to his interview with Aisha Tyler and you'll come to a greater appreciation of him and his work.
2 Like His Ego can be seen from space. He compared himself to Spielburg, hes not even Micheal Bay.
8 Like That last paragraph ("I miss... I don't miss...") is completely understandable.
I don't think alotta the people reading this realize how much WORK goes into creating something. There's the creation process, which is actually enjoyable, and then there're the guys in suits constantly haggling you about it. These suit guys have very little, if anything, to do with the creation. Yet they are the gate keepers to getting it released.
I'm a writer and I deal with alotta that shit too.
2 Like Just STFU and leave already! No one gives an f'! What is this like the 3rd "talk".
2 Like Are you trying to push this as a new meme or something? "What will Bleszinski do?"
Who the f* is Bleszinski
Reading this article is like reading what a Playboy playmate likes or dislikes...Enough with bedroom eyes already lol...
Does someone at gamespot have some kind of fetish fantasy with cliffy or something. You constantly keep putting up dull uninteresting articles on your site about him despite the majority of the GS community declaring that we couldn't care less about this idiot. And the term idiot doesn't get thrown in that sentence merely for posterity. This guy really is a moron. He's an arrogant, self-obsessed uncle Tom (please do not try to bring up racial connotations... it's not wanted, and I don't care. You don't have to be a particular race to be an uncle Tom... The principal is the same). A sell-out. For the last time, we don't care about this moron. Give it a rest. There are far many more interesting people in gaming to write articles about. Ditch this guy. He's not worth it.
@bignick217 You have no idea what an actually Uncle Tom is do you? Uncle does not mean sell out, atleast know what you're talking about. Uncle Tom is actually a compliment really, means you stand by you're beliefs etc. "humanized the suffering of slavery for White audiences by portraying Tom as a Christlike figure who is ultimately martyred, beaten to death by a cruel master because Tom refuses to betray the whereabouts of two women who escape from slavery." and a racial Uncle Tom (which you did not mean, which means you meant the Uncle Tom i just explained above) is "particularly a black person who behaves in a subservient manner to white people" so please before you try and throw around what you think are insults was actually probably a huge compliment to Mr.CliffyB... EPIC FAIL
@chingchow48@bignick217Here is the definition I've always known Uncle Tom to mean:
"A ***** man who will do anything to stay in good standing with "the ***** man" including betray his own people"
Again, I don't like racism and find it to be useless, so I will not perpetuate it here. Now the definition above is the meaning I've always known it to be. That's also the definition most people know it (or think it) to be and is corroborated online. But there is also definitions backing yours, but in far fewer number. So no, I'm not wrong, because the definition I knew is the commonly known definition. Neither are you wrong, because I can also find evidence proving yours. So instead of arguing with you to the death over something as inane and meaningless as this and an argument neither of us can win nor lose, and since I can't edit my previous post, I hereby retract my statement of the use of the word uncle tom and am just sticking with sell-out. Fair enough?
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