Cliff Bleszinski (/bləˈzɪnski/; born February 12, 1975), popularly known asCliffyB,[2] is an American video game designer, known for his work on theUnreal andGears of War series while atEpic Games.[5] After leaving Epic in 2012, he co-foundedBoss Key Productions in 2014 which closed in 2018 after the commercial failure of the multiplayer shooterLawBreakers. Since Boss Key's closure, Bleszinski has spent his time with theater and writing.
Bleszinski's first game wasThe Palace of Deceit,[6] an adventure title he started at the age of 15.[7] Programmed inVisual Basic, its second version came out when he was 16.[7]
Bleszinski got his start atEpic Games in 1992, after submitting his gameDare to Dream to the company's CEO,Tim Sweeney.[2][8] ThoughDare to Dream did not achieve a great success,[8] it led Bleszinski to work onJazz Jackrabbit, a platformer co-developed bydemoscene coderArjan Brussee.[8][9] The title, which came out in 1994, became Epic's biggest selling game at the time, earning him enough money to buy his first apartment and car.[8][10] It was also around this time that he joined Sweeney andJames Schmalz on what would becomeUnreal,[11] which received a follow-up,Unreal Tournament,[12] and expanded into a series of games.
In addition to his work on theUnreal series, Bleszinski served as creative consultant onRune,[13] and as lead designer on the first three installments of theGears of War franchise, which has sold over 22 million copies and earned over one billion in revenue as of January 2014.[14]Gears of War evolved out of the development of what was going to be a game calledUnreal Warfare.[15] As Bleszinski explained in a speech atGDC 2007 entitled "Designing Gears of War: Iteration Wins," the game started out as another first-person shooter in theUnreal universe.[16] Over time, however, influenced by the cover mechanic in Namco's 2003 gameKill Switch and the third-personResident Evil 4,Unreal Warfare became the game known asGears of War.[17] In 2009, he was chosen byIGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time.[18]
After 20 years with the company, Cliff announced his departure from Epic Games on October 3, 2012, saying he had been making video games since he was a teen and wanted to take a break.[19][20] According to a 2015 interview, his original intention was to retire permanently. "I honestly thought I was done... It was a combination of gamers feeling jaded, as well as working with some very talented people who were also very jaded," Bleszinski toldDestructoid. "I could pitch the most amazing idea to anybody back when I was at Epic toward the end, and they'd be like 'I don't buy it,'" he added.[21]
On June 30, 2014, Cliff announced on Twitter that he was "coming out of retirement to make video games again" and would be unveiling his next project in the next week.[22] The new game, afree-to-play, PC-focused arena shooter code-namedBlueStreak, would be published byNexon and developed by his new studio,Boss Key Productions, which he co-founded with Brussee the same year.[23][24] A year later, Bleszinski revealed that the arena shooter would be calledLawBreakers.[25]
In May 2016, he joined the board of advisers forFig, a mixed crowdfunding/investment platform for video games.[26]
On May 14, 2018, Bleszinski announced the dissolution of Boss Key Productions, citing lackluster sales.[27]
After the closure of Boss Key, Bleszinski has gotten involved with theater production. He invested and co-producedHadestown, and was similarly involved with a revival ofFrankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.[28]He has also expressed interest in returning to theGears of War series as an adviser.[29]
His memoir,Control Freak: My Epic Adventure Making Video Games, was published in November 2022 bySimon & Schuster.[30]
In April 2023, Bleszinski announced that he was writing a comic book series titledScrapper in collaboration with Alex De Campi, with illustrations by Sandy Jarrell. Its first issue will be released on July 19 byImage Comics.[31]
Cliff is married to Lauren Bleszinski (née Berggren), a former professional gamer andid Software employee.[32] Previously, he was married to a woman named Darcy.[13] One of his brothers[a] is Tyler Bleszinski, the founder ofPolygon sister siteSB Nation.[33] Their father, who died when Cliff was 15,[34] was an engineer forPolaroid.[2] The nickname "CliffyB" was given to him derogatorily by "some jock kid" when he was a shy teenager; he then took it and developed a tougher persona around it.[2] However, in 2008 he expressed a desire to retire the moniker, saying it's "time to grow up a bit".[35]
In 1987, Bleszinski got aNintendo Entertainment System for Christmas, which turned him into a huge video game fan. "My friends nicknamed me 'Nintendo Boy' because my entire life revolved around my NES. I was eating Nintendo cereal, wearing Nintendo clothing. My dream job was to work for Nintendo. I was pretty inseparable from my NES," said Bleszinski. He said his favorite NES game of all time isZanac.[36]
In 1988, at 13, Cliff appeared in the first issue ofNintendo Power for earning the high score of 9,999,950 inSuper Mario Bros..[2][37] Regarding the achievement, he commented in a 2017 interview withRolling Stone "that was probably one of the moments when I realized, deep-down and subconsciously, I wanted to be a 'name' in this business of video games."[38] He also went to theNintendo World Championships when he was 15, coming in second inMassachusetts.[39]
In 1998, Bleszinski rose to fame in the Internet when he held a contest inviting visitors of his website to scan their cats on flatbed scanners and submit the photos for judging.[40]
In 2000,PC Gamer featured Bleszinski in the cover of its November issue, calling him one of the "Next Game Gods."[13]Wired magazine awarded him aRave Award in 2007 for his work onGears of War.[41] Shortly before the release of its sequel, Bleszinski was profiled in 2008 byTom Bissell ofThe New Yorker in an article titledThe Grammar of Fun.[2] On April 12, 2010, he appeared onNBC'sLate Night with Jimmy Fallon, where he showed the debut trailer forGears of War 3 and citedSpace Invaders as the game that initially inspired him.[42][43]
Bleszinski has opened two bars inRaleigh, North Carolina, the first one in 2014 calledThe Station,[44] followed byThe Raleigh Beer Garden in 2015.[45]
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