A recent interview with Cliff “CliffyB” Bleszinski offered insight into the legendary game designer’s feelings on Epic Games sale ofGears of War. Microsoft purchased the franchise in 2014, and at that timeGears of Warwent from being a third-party exclusive to an in-house Microsoft product. Bleszinski had left Epic Games two years earlier to take a break from games development, but he recently shared his thoughts on Epic Games' sale of the franchise that he helped develop into a worldwide success.
The original concept forGears of Warcame out of the development forUnreal Warfare, a first-person shooter in Epic GamesUnrealuniverse, that Bleszinski was designing in the early-2000’s. Influenced by the recent success ofResident Evil 4and theimpressive graphics available in the Unreal 3 engine, Bleszinski decided to make a cover-based third-person shooter as he wanted to show off the detailed character models. While graphical considerations pushed the initial design forward, Bleszinski remains proud ofGears of War’sstoryand in particular the decisions made around Dom and Maria.
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During a recent episode of IGN’s Unfiltered web show, Bleszinski shared his thoughts on why he thinks Epic Games made the sale to Microsoft. In Bleszinski’s opinion once he, Producer Rod Ferguson, and Gameplay Designer Lee Perry left Epic Games, the studio “didn’t know what to do with the franchise.” According to Bleszinski, Epic Games hadn’t released a game in a while and despite the Unreal Engine selling well, the developer may have needed an influx of cash.Fortnitewas still years away and theEpic Games Storewas even further away from being a reality.
Following the sale ofGears of Warto Microsoft, Bleszinski shared thatHead of Xbox Phil Spencerwas the only one to call him. Bleszinski praises Phil Spencer as a “gentleman and a scholar” by saying “that’s just who Phil is.” Bleszinski had been retired from the game industry for two years when the sale to Microsoft was completed.Gears of War 3was the last in the franchise that Bleszinski worked on as part of Epic games. During his interview, Bleszinski was asked his feelings about the Coalition-developedGearstitles and said that while The Coalition had players choose which characters live or die, Epic Games committed to the fates of Dom and Maria.
Since Epic Games soldGears of Warto Microsoft, the studio has gone on to develop, perhaps with cash from the sale according to Bleszinski, one of the largest games in history withFortnite. Bleszinski went back into games development in late 2015 with Boss Key Productions, which launched theill-fatedLawbreakersin 2017. The failure ofLawbreakersled to the closing of Boss Key Productions in 2019. Bleszinski recently published his autobiography,Control Freak: My Epic Adventure Making Video Games.
