Cliff Bleszinski Offers Some Keys To Success In ESports

Cliff Bleszinski has been keeping busy on the talk circuit, having done panels and keynotes at SXSW 2013, PAX East and the East Coast Games Conference. The currently retired former game design director of Epic Games will eventually step back into the development game with a new project, but for now he’s enjoying life.

The creator of Jazz Jackrabbit was an instrumental creative cog in the Gears of War franchise that has earned publisher Microsoft over $1 billion in sales before the recent launch of Gears of War Judgment. As a “free agent,” he can work with any of the big game publishers on his next project, including Microsoft.

Bleszinski, who is still known by fans as “Cliffy B,” has been a fan of eSports, attending Major League Gaming (MLG) events in Raleigh. He talks about competitive gaming and the challenges of keeping franchises fresh in this exclusive interview.

[jagiii]

Could be interesting to see what Cliff does with eSports.

[konnerbllb]

I look forward to the day when "journalists" stop using outdated pictures.

Guy below me

@majiebeast

You've obviously never played the unreal series in the 90s or UT 99+. You're an idiot, please go jump out of a window. Preferably the nearest. If you're still breathing after said event, jump again.

[majiebeast]

Clifford the big red dog should just write a book at this point.

"Sh*t i dont actually know crap about" by chainssawgun wielder Cliffy B.

"I watched those matches and I have no idea what’s going on because I haven’t played the game."

Ive never played a match of LoL and i know what its about and how it works, the terms they use, you pick up pretty fast especially in twitch chat. Still DOTA 2 is far superior and enjoyable to watch.

[ErzaScarlet]

You heard the man!. It's Cliffy B. in the house yo!.

[DragonKnight]

The list of people who need to shut up because they've been talking too much lately include...

Everyone at Crytek
Everyone at nVidia
Everyone at Kotaku
Pacther
and Cliffy B.

Why is it that this guy could have an opinion about the color and consistency of manure and it would be posted all over the internet? The guy is doing nothing but flapping his mouth these days and most of what he has to say is either flat out B.S. (microtransactions are good) or just plain boring. *sigh*

[Ducky]

A lot of people have been talking a lot recently, seems you only want the people you disagree with to shut up.

Cliffy was asked about his opinion in an interview. Most of his points were pretty well reasoned.
No reason to show up in an article only to display your disdain for the topic.

[DragonKnight]

Where in my entire post did I mention anything about agreeing or disagreeing with those people? What's more likely happening is you're making an assumption that because I narrowed down a list of people, that automatically means I disagree with them and couldn't possibly be that they've been in the news far too often. No, it couldn't be that they've either been repeating the same things over and over again, or generally speaking as though their opinion is somehow more important to be heard than anyone else's opinion.

No, it MUST be because I "disagree" with them. Yeah, that's what it is. You've really got me there.

"No reason to show up in an article only to display your disdain for the topic."

Except that it's a public forum that is designed for people to do just that?

[Ducky]

"No, it couldn't be that they've either been repeating the same things over and over again, or generally speaking as though their opinion is somehow more important to be heard than anyone else's opinion."

... so that's why you want a guy being interviewed to shut up? O.o

[DragonKnight]

"... so that's why you want a guy being interviewed to shut up? O.o"

So because he's being interviewed negates the fact that he needs to, in general, shut up? You understand that he's still a mouthpiece outside of interviews right? His "microtransactions are good" bit comes from his own blog, not an interview.

To take it one step further, these people also need to stop interviewing people who need to shut up. Especially when they are interviewing these people about something they aren't involved in at all.

But if you think people who just constantly say things that are detrimental to the industry (Cliffy B., Cervat Yerli), who are wrong (Pachter) or blatantly arrogant (nVidia) should keep opening their mouths and flooding news with their pointless opinions, or that people should keep interviewing them because maybe they did something good once, then by all means continue to enjoy the mind numbing, never ending opinions these people have.

It still doesn't negate the fact that they need to take a break from their mouths and let their actions, or time, speak for them.

[Ducky]

"You understand that he's still a mouthpiece outside of interviews right? His "microtransactions are good" bit comes from his own blog, not an interview."

I don't agree with his micro-transaction comment, but I don't expect to agree with every opinion of any single individual. In this interview, I thought his opinions were well-reasoned, and I don't see the point of crying over something he's said in a blog that's irrelevant to what was said here.

I hope you do see the irony in that you want all these people in the industry to shut up because you think their opinions are worthless or that they pretend their opinions are more important than others... when you're pretty much guilty of the same thing here.

You want to criticize other people's opinions, go right ahead.
Wanting them to shut up, on the other hand, is unreasonable.

[DragonKnight]

Again, it isn't about agreeing or disagreeing with their comments. It doesn't matter whether we do or not as what they are saying can have an effect regardless.

"I don't see the point of crying over something he's said in a blog that's irrelevant to what was said here."

That's because you're still stuck on this idea that it's about whether anyone agrees or disagrees with him when it's not. It's about him needing to shut up because his "opinion" has been around too much.

"I hope you do see the irony in that you want all these people in the industry to shut up because you think their opinions are worthless or that they pretend their opinions are more important than others... when you're pretty much guilty of the same thing here."

No, actually, I'm not. What I'm saying here isn't something that will be posted everywhere, repeated ad nauseum, and I don't act like it matters to anyone else. I've said what I said simply because it's what I was thinking based on what's been happening. I place no importance on it, it's just a matter of fact situation. You wouldn't understand though because, again, you can't grasp the simple context of what I said.

"Wanting them to shut up, on the other hand, is unreasonable."

Not when they've been talking too much it isn't. Especially when what they say has the potential to be run with. Crytek saying graphics are 60% of a game is a problem, thus they need to shut up because we don't need games that are all graphics and no substance. But you really wouldn't understand.

[akaihana86plus]

I love this guy :3 ♥

[Riderz1337]

Wow it seems like Cliff nows how to fix everything wrong with gaming nowadays! I guess he just has all the answers.

[MikeyDucati1]

Serious question. Can anybody actually watch eSports? I can't for the life of me, its just too boring...

[Kos-Mos]

Tell me something noteworthy this genius has created. By the way I have a mature mind and "bang bang" is not noteworthy.
Enlighten me.

[pompombrum]

Wait what... wasn't it Cliffy B who criticized esports back in gears 3 development complaining that they strip the games bare (in regards I presume to MLG and Halo).

[MikeyDucati1]

Yes he was.

[MyNutsYourChin]

I see eSports is still trying as hard as it can to get attention. Still talking about hyper-active nobodies who strive to be attention whores is a huge detriment to the gaming industry. eSports is going to help kill the industry.