Cliff Bleszinski Officially Returns to the Games Industry

Cliff Bleszinski, he was not only the face of Epic Games for well over a decade... he was a posterboy for American game development. His views and opinions were as outrageous as whatever his current hairdo was. That's why it wasn't a huge surprise when Epic Games became a dude bro shooter sequel factory for Microsoft, he decided to walk away from the studio he called home since he was a teenager. This also resulted in an exodus of talent from Epic, with Microsoft purchasing the Gears of War IP and handing development duties over to Black Tusk Studios.

Epic is still set to release Fortnite later this year- which is kind of a mix of Minecraft and tower defense using more cartoon-ish graphics... the game should be an indicator of how much talent remains after Bleszinski's departure. The last 2 years haven't exactly been a retirement for Cliff, but rather finding what he wanted to do next. The success of the Gears of War series gave him the luxury of being financially independent enough to be picky about his next project. He's certainly remained a voice and presence in the industry during this break- appearing regularly on podcasts and staying active on twitter. 

This week on that same twitter, Bleszinski announced he has officially returned to game development and will unveil his next project within a week. He's teased meetings with EA, Activision, and other industry big boys, but at the same time he's championed the indie game scene and the creativity coming from it. I personally don't see him going towards big AAA development again, similar to how Ken Levine chose a small team over continuing to making Bioshock games with Irrational. We'll find out what this mystery studio and mystery game is soon enough, but it's safe to say it won't be a third person dude bro shooter.