Cliff Bleszinski’s new studio ‘a matter of when and with who’

Cliff Bleszinski’s exit from Epic Games in October came as a surprise to many, so what does the industry icon have in mind for his next move?

Following a month of doing what Bleszinski described as absolutely nothing,” the designer told G4 that he has begun to meet with developers and publishers. Something he believes will lead to the start of his own studio.

"I’ve been working with [Epic] since I was 17 years old. It’s time for a fresh start," Bleszinski said. "I’ll start a new studio maybe at some point. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when and with who."

Channeling another design legend, Bleszinski expressed his hopes to show off more of his versatility, and eventually shed the ‘Gears of War guy’ image as his only legacy.

"I don’t really want just the whole chainsaw gun to be my legacy, you know? A lot of these kids who have only been playing games for the last however many years, they think that’s the only thing I ever did.

They forget about Jazz Jackrabbit, Unreal Tournament, that I worked on things like Bulletstorm and a little bit on Shadow Complex. Moving forward I would hope to work on something new and fresh and redefine my legacy. Stephen Spielberg didn’t want to be known for just E.T. so he made a lot of different kinds of things."