What will Cliff Bleszinski do next?

January 24, 2013 11:19AM PST

Former Epic Games designer discusses challenges of opening new studio, allure of AAA game development.

Ever since Cliff Bleszinski left Epic Games in October, fans may have wondered what the outspoken industry veteran would do next. He's not saying just yet, though the designer opened up on his career options in a new VentureBeat interview.

"One of the main things I've been considering is opening my own studio," Bleszinski said. "But the complication to that is, heavy is the head that wears the crown. If you have 150 people that you're responsible for, with their families and their children and all that, that's a lot of weight. The company depends on you."

This is not the first time Bleszinski has spoken of opening his own studio. Last month, he revealed he would like to set up a shop to work on a new intellectual property codenamed Silverstreak. Though this could happen, Bleszinski said working for another studio or being a consultant are also options he is considering.

"At the end of the day, I just want to do something that motivates me, that gets me out of bed. I've been able to be financially successful enough that the only work I have to do is the work that I want to do. It's a fortunate position," he said.

"At the end of the day, I just want to do something that motivates me, that gets me out of bed."

Bleszinski said he is interested in getting back into AAA game development, but noted he hopes to avoid the pitfalls that beset Curt Schilling and John Romero.

"The thing is, I would want to get back to the triple-A space eventually, but the last thing I would want to do--and no offense meant to Curt Schilling [38 Studios] and John Romero [Ion Storm]--is to do what those guys did," he said. "'Let's throw 300 bodies at it! Sure, we'll just make it work!'" That's the equivalent of taking a garage band and having them play Wembley Stadium on day one. You have to learn how to work with people."

Asked if he would consider becoming an indie developer and build something on a smaller scale, Bleszinski said the sink-or-swim nature of the indie scene is "beautiful," but he would prefer a more mass-scale endeavor.

"Doing Gears of War, I loved the large-scale aspect of it," he said. "We could leverage Microsoft to get the American Chopper TV special and have big launch events and see our ads on TV during Monday Night Football. That level of relevance comes with being triple-A."

Since leaving Epic Games, Bleszinski has visited the offices of Activision, Zynga, Double Fine, and Electronic Arts. He has also met with God of War and Twisted Metal designer David Jaffe and been courted by Ubisoft.

Bleszinski will give the keynote address at PAX East 2013 in April.

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.

Follow Follow @EddieMakuch

97 comments

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bigmac5and5

Still waiting for Jazz Jackrabbit revival...

queuing_for_PS4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EffPnse4WQs

jhcho2

I think he's gonna be another John Romero. It's been proven countless times, that success of games are a result of a good studio, and good creative talent. People like Max Schaefer, David Brevik and Bill Roper are the creative talent behind the Diablo series. That, combined with a good company (Blizzard), lead to the success of Diablo. What are those three now without Blizzard? The same can be said about John Romero. What is he without id software? What is Cliffy B without Epic? Time will tell.

juiceman4519

1 Like

Lol, it seems a lot of you guys were thinking the same thing I was when I read the headline. IDC!

brok

Gears of War was the creative death of Epic Games. Maybe Cliff Blezinski should make an Unreal Tournament clone by way of apology?

swamptick

Who cares? He is a bigot and a moron.

Megavideogamer

Hopefully he will open his own studio and make games for PS4 and Xbox 720. It would even be interesting to see what he could do with the Wii U. But I don't think Cliff is a Nintendo fan. So I hope that he could start work on Xbox 720 launch titles.

sacatash

Got to give props to him. Gears of War made me and my friends buy the Xbox 360 even though there were rampant RROD in 2006. The GOW franchise was and is a system seller.

I bet he has 'writer's block' and still searching for inspiration how to get back making great games. Well good luck to him.

Artemiccion

1 Like

I think i know what he should do...
STEROID MARINES WHO ALWAYS YELL YEAAAAHHHH!!!!

Sorry counldn't help myself, although I really like gears :)

WoZe

2 Like

This dude-bro made one good franchise. Congratulations. It's interesting we never hear from the great game designers such as Kojima, Todd Howard, Miyamoto, people at Valve, Ubisoft, Rockstar, etc yet this guy gets the attention for his simple one liners. Hopefully he leaves the industry and picks up pottery.

Saketume

1 Like

I only read this article to find out who he is and why I should care.

I leave disappointed.

..or wait is this a poll? Do we get to decide what he should do? Because then I have some ideas.

dogpigfish

He should take the job with Ubi, they need him.

Reuwsaat

3 Like

Excuse me, I'm trying to find a single fuck to give.

WoZe

2 Like

@Reuwsaat Here here. Unfortunately, gamespot has an orgasm when this prick opens his mouth.

Pyrosa

2 Like

Late-night ads for exercise equipment?

Anthrizacks

3 Like

Who the hell cares?

troyhalo34

2 Like

Should help Capcom save resident evil

Hig1134

2 Like

Cliff is just too arrogant for me to respect him. Gears is a great game, but I can't stand this guy.