Man... Cliff was SO much more than a "mastermind behind Gears of War". Seriously.

As much as Something Awful liked to rip on CliffyB, he is basically the Steve Jobs of Epic games. And as much as I liked to rip on Steve Jobs, I ...oh hang on, my iPhone is ringing...

Oh shit! What about Jazz Jackrabbit?!

Surprised, but understandable.

@MisuseOfLasers: made me chuckle.

wowza

Surprising, interested to see what he does next.

It will be exciting to see what younger new developers will come up with now that the faces we all know are getting out of the biz. When you look at a PC Gamer from 1998 or something and see issues like "The Gods of Gaming" most of those guys are in some form of retirement and have been for years, but the industry just kept on going. This is not the end, but rather a new exciting era of new hardware and new eager devs. I hope a lot of creativity will pour forth after 2013 (if we all are alive) and we get to see some seriously needed innovation.

Well, that was a surprise. Wish him the best of luck, whatever he chooses to do!

@mrsmiley said:

Man... Cliff was SO much more than a "mastermind behind Gears of War". Seriously.

Was he a wizard?

Now he's got more time to pork his girlfriend!

A sad day but I will await his return!

With Cliff leaving Epic and the doctors leaving BioWare/EA a lot of big names seem to be leaving and taking breaks.

I'm surprised he has left Epic. It will be interesting to see what design decisions will be different now that he is not there.

I hope Cliff does eventually come back to the gaming industry as he has worked on some games I've really liked over the years.

I'd like Cliff Bleszinski to eventually end up at somewhere like Microsoft as I think it would be a good fit. Microsoft seem adverse to taking risks but maybe willing to listen to someone like Cliff Bleszinski as his previous track record of working with them (i.e. the Gears of War series) has been good and Cliff Bleszinski does seem very much like a core gamer with some good ideas.

I hope he doesn't go off to do smaller titles as I think he does well with big budget AAA rated games.

“chart the next stage of his career,”

So, he's going to Naughty Dog?

sounds like the invisable hand of eleoctrin arts is behind this...........

If you're telling me the thing you think Cliff will be remembered for is JUST Gears Of War I don't think I want to live on this planet anymore.

Hey, Valve. You better talk to this guy.

ok, so the guys taking an extended break, maybe he'll be back, or forms a new studio via Kickstarter, isnt that the trend these days.

@Begilerath said:

20 years! that's a looong time to be working in the same place...also, How old is this dude? Was he working at Epic since he was 15 or something?

He was born in 1975, making him 37 years old. He started working at Epic at 17.

Before you say it, yeah, that's fucking crazy.

First the Drs @ Bioware, and now Cliffy B.

Damn.

@Jedted said:

First the Bioware Doctors now Cliffy B, wonder what this says about the video game industry as a whole.

Such incredibly different circumstances, reading into that will lead you down a DARK path. The difference is that Epic is pretty content with their place in the industry and have clearly been able to do what they want, with Fortnite. I don't think he's a broken man like the Doctors were.

This is sad, but I wish him the best in his future endevours.

'Young Clifford' ain't so young anymore, he's bordering on 40 and getting (got?) married so its about that time in his life to 'go home and be a family man'.

Thats a pretty big blow to Epic, he is pretty much their poster boy at the moment and whilst im sure life goes on and they will still make games people like, they will have a hard time finding someone who enjoys being in the public eye as much as him. This not long after Ferguson left too, is that Gears of War done then?

I wonder if he's leaving the industry? I sure hope not, vidjagames needs people like Blesz.

I wonder if he has to pay to licens the Unreal Engine now.

its news like this that makes me realise how crazy it is that miyamoto is STILL in games.

Can't wait to see what he comes up with after he takes a (hopefully, short) break. :)

that's surprising and crazy. Did he take a look at the new xbox and was like "fuck it I'm out"?

i guess his heart just wasnt in it anymore and the only way to control that is with a little thing i like to call a deep cycle marine battery..... or LSD.

@OriginalHB504 said:

Now maybe Judgement has a better chance of coming to pc.

Real weird comment.

sponsored links huh

@dicnose said:

sounds like the invisable hand of eleoctrin arts is behind this...........

EA are largely to blame for what's going on at Bioware, but I don't think you can blame them for everything that happens.

It's more probable that Microsoft is paying them bags of money to keep making Gears of War games and he wants to move on to do something else. Pretty much the same situation as Bungie were in a few months back, except there it was with the whole studio.

So long Cliff 'Don't call me Cliffy B' Blezinski, we'll miss you at E3.

Mostly because we enjoyed looking at your hot wife.

Awww man. Well best of luck to Cliffy B

This mans games have always had tight gameplay systems and each game was a big improvement from the last, can't say that about a lot of developers. GOW3 was just the perfect 3rd person shooter.

I will always remember him for Jazz Jackrabbit... Always.

So, videogames are over now, eh? Oh well, It was fun while it lasted.

Great, there goes my dream for a Jazz Jackrabbit HD remake.

All the best to Cliffy!

@theanticitizen said:

@sthusby

@theanticitizen: It's hard to look right, at you baby.

@sthusby you're my favorite

I have that effect on people.

I was hoping this was just a bad dream. Hope Dude Huge keeps making games because Gears played amazing.

Jazz Jackrabbit was one of my first and favorite action games. I don't know how much he wrote of the hilarious comic in the manual, but this humor always felt like Cliffy B to me. Fare thee well, Cliffy! Can't wait to see what you're up to next...

Wow, hey Cliff, good luck on your next thing. Hope it's still in gaming though, we need people like you.

Please dont tell me you will make mobile/social games too.

Patrick's closing sentence made me feel like I was reading an obituary...

Dude Huge. Respect

errrrrrrrrr what!? Ok sure thought I guess he had to move on at some point. Still makes this real weird though

Would love for him to make the rounds on some podcasts.

Must be nice to be a rich video game designer that is able to take years off.

METROID DREAD!

Surprised, but not at the same time.