When Boss Key Productions closed its doors earlier this year, Cliff Bleszinkski, creator of the Gears of War series, said that video games will always be a part of him and he hopes to one day make a new game. However, a recent tweet implies that he’s going in a new direction, and it won’t involve video games at all.
Last month, while Cliff was taking his time off to reflect, we learned that Cliff’s thoughts on participating in the video game industry may have changed. A now-deleted account (most likely a troll account) sent Cliff a message expressing anger that players weren’t refunded the money they spent on Lawbreakers, the flagship title of Boss Key Productions. Cliff said, in a now-deleted tweet:
I get you’re sad, but god, this kinda shit is another reason I am NEVER making another game.
It’s also worth noting that the tweet where he said he hoped to make something new again someday has also been deleted.
On December 22, Cliff Bleszinski posted a new tweet:
He confirmed that he’s moved on from video games in a follow-up tweet that asked him if he really was moving on from video games, saying that he’s “Just kinda over it, buddy, honestly. Shit is toxic AF.”
Cliff Bleszinski started his career in 1992 with Epic Games, where his first big break was as co-developer of Jazz Jackrabbit. Some of his most well-known work at Epic Games included the Unreal Tournament games as well as being lead designer of the first three Gears of War games. In 2012, he left the company to take a break from developing games, but would later start his own company, Boss Key Productions, in 2014. Their first game, a shooter titled LawBreakers, released in 2017, but failed to gain a strong audience due to similar titles like Overwatch and its imitators. Boss Key’s second game, the 1980’s game show-themed battle royale Radical Heights, released this year in “X-TREME Early Access.” It wound up being the studio’s final game as potential customers were turned away by the game’s very rough and glitchy nature.