‘I will probably always make shooters. It’s in my DNA.’
It’s unclear what exactly Cliff Bleszinski’s next game will be, though last we heard a first-person arena shooter was at least a possibility. The former Epic Games designer has spoken about his future in an interview with Gamasutra, offering a few hints at what he’s got in mind.
“PC is where I’m going to wind up,” he said. “That’s where the community is. The trend will always be the core. If I start a studio, I want a community manager there day one. I want weekly video or podcasts; I want task lists available on the subreddit. When my wife and I play Rust, before we play, we check the subreddit. Whenever you get a little bored with a game, someone issues an update. I feel like a game developer again, where I get to check out the build list.
“The whole ‘old guard,’ where you get a Game Informer cover and an E3 reveal, is dead,” he continued. “I’ll never make another disc-based game for the rest of my career, and [at E3] they’re trying to woo buyers from Target and Walmart?” Bleszinski believes there are two key lessons to be learned from games like Rust and Minecraft: “Get the game out there and build it. Some kid will put out a video. Players will teach each other. You don’t need the ‘press A to jump.’”
Reflecting on his extensive career at Epic Games, he said that “I don’t want [Gears of War] to be my defining legacy. At the end of the day, it’s known for being a fun, fantastic franchise. But I’d like to think there’s more to my creativity than that.”
With new perspective on life and games, Cliff Bleszinski plots next move [Gamasutra] [Image source]