Gears of War’s Cliff Bleszinski Weighs Full-Time Return to Game Development
Cliff Bleszinski, the designer behind Gears of War and co-creator of Jazz Jackrabbit, says he is genuinely weighing a full-time return to making video games after eight years away from the industry. Eight years after leaving the games industry, Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski is considering a full-time return to game development after the closure of his studio Boss Key Productions, and though he swore off making games forever at the time, he explained in a wide-ranging interview with 80 Level that he’s considering coming back. The comments, published this week, mark his most candid public reflection yet on what went wrong at Boss Key — and what kind of game he might build next.
From Jazz Jackrabbit to Gears: The Epic Years
Long before chainsaw bayonets and the Locust Horde, a teenage Bleszinski was already shipping shareware titles. Bleszinski designed ultra hits like Jazz Jackrabbit, Unreal and Gears of War during his years as a young gun at Epic through the ’90s and 2000s. Perhaps most famous for his work on the Unreal and Gears of War series of games, Bleszinski also found himself, in 2018, infamous for two other shooters: LawBreakers and Radical Heights.
He left Epic in 2012 after two decades with the company, before co-founding Boss Key Productions two years later alongside fellow Jazz Jackrabbit collaborator Arjan Brussee. Bleszinski co-founded Boss Key Productions with fellow Jazz Jackrabbit creator and Guerrilla Games founder Arjan Brussee.
Boss Key’s Collapse and an Eight-Year Silence
Boss Key’s two releases struggled badly. Both LawBreakers and Radical Heights were products of Boss Key Productions, which Bleszinski co-founded in 2014: LawBreakers barely lasted a year, and Radical Heights barely a month. The studio shut its doors soon after, and Bleszinski publicly vowed never to make another game.
In the 80 Level interview, he took ownership of the failure rather than blaming the market. He pointed to his own ego and how it shaped his approach, saying, “I could have used Rod, but I wanted it to be my show, and that was the first step of my ego creeping in right there, believing that people would, you know: if I built it as Cliff, people will come. I thought there was this brand loyalty from the people who knew who I was, but it turns out people are loyal to the game, but they’re not necessarily loyal to the person.” He also singled out a Nexon publishing deal that, ironically, was too generous to force the studio to adapt when trouble hit, and second-guessed the choice of PlayStation over Xbox as a launch platform for LawBreakers.
A Hospital Bed and Four Months of Sobriety
Alcohol played a bigger role in the studio’s downfall than fans realised. Compounding his behaviour was alcoholism: Bleszinski intentionally chose an office near the bar scene and would ride share to work expecting to return home inebriated, a habit he says he picked up during the Unreal Tournament days. “I was a functioning alcoholic,” he said. “Then I became a non-functioning alcoholic.”
Matters came to a head this spring. In March of this year, Bleszinski suffered a seizure, apparently triggered by the effects of his drinking, and has focused on his health and kicking the habit ever since. Now four months sober, Bleszinski finds himself once more drawn to creating, and his first love: video games. Reflecting on the ordeal, he said simply: “It’s been a journey. I don’t want to be that person where my defining aspect is my alcoholism. I want to be that well-known, hopefully loved, successful game designer who is a great husband who also happens to be an alcoholic.”
Soul Walker: Testing the Water Before a Full Comeback
Bleszinski hasn’t been entirely absent from development. He has already returned to game development in an advisory role, having consulted on a horror game called Soul Walker, and the experience appears to have been positive for him, as he’s now pondering a full-time comeback. The asymmetrical multiplayer title, from Epoch Media Studios, is aimed at PC and Xbox.
Speaking about where that consultancy could lead, he offered a cautious but telling line: “So maybe I’ll eventually get my full foot back in the business and hopefully not get pushed into the pool,” Bleszinski said, though he remains coy about what a new game of his own might be, only that it won’t be in the PvP space.
Why It Won’t Be Another Arena Shooter
Given LawBreakers’ fate, Bleszinski is adamant his next project — if it happens — will steer clear of competitive multiplayer entirely. “Good luck to anyone in that space,” he said. “I’m more of a fan of PvE these days. Horde mode saved Gears 2, and I believe that space is evergreen because players just want to hop online with friends and shoot some stuff, no frills, no questions asked.”
He stopped short of detailing the concept itself, dropping only a cryptic hint about where his imagination has been wandering lately. “I’m nowhere near sharing anything specific (about a new game), beyond that, I can’t walk into a Home Depot without seeing a full arsenal at every turn,” he said, adding that “There’s so much more than just chainsaws.”
Nothing is confirmed, and Bleszinski has flirted with comebacks before without them materialising publicly. But for a designer whose chainsaw-bayonet rifle and cover-shooter mechanics still echo through Xbox’s biggest franchise — one with a sizeable following among Gears fans across Australia and New Zealand’s Xbox community — even a “maybe” carries weight for a scene that has waited eight years for his next move.
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