CliffyB leaves EPIC

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Synastren

Synastren

Explodious!
Jun 22, 2001
2,417
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KU
Official press release from EPIC.

Today we are saying farewell with warm regards to Cliff Bleszinski, who is departing as Epic’s design director to chart the next stage of his career. During the past two decades, Cliff has helped shape many successful games that have captured the imaginations of millions of players around the world. We are grateful for his influence on Epic’s legacy, from the wild adventures “Jazz Jackrabbit” to the visceral combat of “Gears of War.”



Said Tim Sweeney, Epic’s founder, CEO and technical director, “In 20 wonderful years with Epic, Cliff Bleszinski has grown into a true design luminary, and his contributions to the ‘Unreal’ and ‘Gears’ series have helped shape the game industry into what it is today. Cliff leaves Epic with our gratitude for his many contributions, and our wishes for continued success in the next chapter of his life!”

“In my 10 years of working with Cliff, his passion for creating video games of the highest quality has been unflinching. We are grateful for all of his hard work, and remain committed to making our fans happy and to always raising the bar in everything we do at Epic,” said Epic Games President Dr. Michael Capps.

“Cliff has been my friend and business associate for the past 20 years and, while it is sad to see him move on from Epic, I know that everyone here has benefitted greatly from his passion for gaming and the depth of his expertise and experience,” said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic. “I’ll miss watching his star shine from such a close vantage point but I’ll still look forward to watching his continued success.”

We would also like to share an excerpt from Cliff’s personal note to his colleagues:

I’ve been doing this since I was a teenager, and outside of my sabbatical last year, I have been going non-stop. I literally grew up in this business, as Mike likes to say. And now that I’m grown up, it’s time for a much needed break.

I will miss the projects, the playtests, the debates, and most importantly, the people. Epic only hires the best of the best, and it has been a joy working with each and every one of you on a daily basis, whether you were hired weeks ago or decades ago. I have been fortunate enough to collaborate with a variety of disciplines, from code to art to marketing and PR – it’s been one big, rewarding learning experience. I’m confident that each project that is being built, whether at Epic, Chair, PCF, or Impossible will be top notch and will please gamers and critics alike.

We wish Cliff the best with his future endeavors. You can, too, via @therealcliffyb on Twitter or on the Epic Forums.
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Seems like this is something REALLY IMPORTANT to the BeyondUnreal forums.
 
Raynor.Z

Raynor.Z

Ad Nocendum Potentes Sumus
Feb 1, 2006
1,491
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So long CliffyB, that was unexpected that such iconic Epic Games' employee leaves the company. I wonder how this could influence the future of Unreal Tournament?
 
NRG

NRG

Master Console Hater
Dec 31, 2005
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Raynor.Z said:
I wonder how this could influence the future of Unreal Tournament?
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Well, I would I would imagine it means a new installment or some kind of remake some day, has one less person in favor for it. It obviously also means it's one less person who has worked on the Unreal/UT series if such a thing were to happen.

I wonder how many of the original developers for Unreal are still at Epic? How much it's grown? I'm too lazy to go find the staff.
 
cryptophreak

cryptophreak

unbalanced
Jul 2, 2011
1,011
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Something about his reddit AMA a couple of weeks ago made me wonder how long he was going to stick around Epic. Can't put my finger on what.
 
Psychomorph

Psychomorph

 
Apr 21, 2003
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Europe
Autopsy said:
As a PC gamer with a memory greater than 5 seconds all I can say is: good riddance.

(Yes I was a CliffyB fanboy at one point too, but he straight fucked PC gaming in the azz and threw it under a bus.)
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You can't blame him, he had to do what had to be done, but of course he could have done it a bit better (to soften the fall), but he could not prevent or change the direction the industry was heading to (to me as a hardcore PC fanatic, the direction pointed south, still in the process).

To me the downfall began in 2002 already. I hated UT2003/2004 with every bit of myself, because it lost all that made UT99 so great, that Unreal vibe, that solid violent combat sport flair. Instead we had a manga nightmare freak show Quake 3 clone, with undead clowns and fatty guys.. WTF!!!
I haven't touched an Epic game since. Gears of War, never had a slight interest for it, never will.

But Cliff was part of what made Unreal, which is one of my all time favourites, my most played game which I am still playing today. For this he has my eternal appreciation.
 
Lruce Bee

Lruce Bee

Transcending to another level
May 3, 2001
1,644
3
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Sherwood Forest
Same here, I could never get into the Gears thing - never felt right, didn't have the UT DNA I loved and the modding community kinda disintergrated and collapsed, so we parted ways and I never continued creating levels with the new editor - such a shame because I absolutely loved what it was all about in the early days.
Too many games blurring into the same thing now - just variations on a theme and I've grown tired of it all.
Maybe Cliff saw the same thing and decided to get off at the next stop.
 
Teridax

Teridax

Fresh meat.
Nov 2, 2008
217
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Autopsy said:
As a PC gamer with a memory greater than 5 seconds all I can say is: good riddance.

(Yes I was a CliffyB fanboy at one point too, but he straight fucked PC gaming in the azz and threw it under a bus.)
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Pretty much this. I can't say I'm sad to see him go when I look back at his trollish behavior and treatment of PC gaming in general.
 
Sjosz

Sjosz

(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
Dec 31, 2003
3,048
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Edmonton, AB
www.dregsld.com
Poor guy is the public face of the company and proceeds to catch all the flak for a move away from PC, because obviously he is the main person to blame there. Stay classy, BU.
 
Iron Archer

Iron Archer

Holy ****ing King of Trolls
Mar 23, 2000
2,905
0
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Obamaland
maybe going forward the Epic games won't be replete with the over the top, macho football jock-types that Cliffy never got to be in high school
 
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