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.
Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.
Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.
Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.
"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."
That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.
As part of its plans to cut 1,900 jobs, Microsoft has reportedly shut down operations at Bethesda France, letting go roughly 15 people
Bethesda France was made up of roughly 15 people... they couldn't of being doing much
Bethesda France mainly did publishing and marketing within the region
Bethesda France focused on publishing and marketing in the region. And 15 people lost their jobs as part of the closure.
I wonder if this is part of Microsoft's strategy to abandoned physical media or possibly gamepass advertising makes their roles redundant you don't need to market a game as hard when the majority of players get the game as part of a sub which already promoted upcoming games
Tbh Microsoft I think Bethesda being 3rd party same with Activision would probably more competitive than thus scenario imo
The recently purchased Activision French offices might take over all the licensing and marketing for Microsoft in France from now on.
Hanzla from eXputer inquires: "If Xbox can care about preserving its games and legacy, what exactly is wrong with Nintendo, trying to kill game preservation single-handedly?"
Ahh yes the good old game preservation of saving all your games to a removable hhd on the Xbox 360, taking it round your mates house, setting up multiple tvs to
Be met with “save data corrupted, please re download”
Or how about removing 360 games
From the store
, download them now or else, and, better hope to god that save data doesn’t corrupt, or it’s lost for ever
Nice one ☝️
This is just a scammy PR move to distract from the fact they are going digital only and trying to push streaming and subscriptions only.
No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft.
Without discs there is no preservation, preservation can't be done by the rights holders it can only be done by the consumers, anything else is a lie.
Nobody wants this. Sales or the lack of it in the case of XBOX is very telling. I wonder how the adorably all digital series X will fare. Adorably dismal perhaps?
Only time will tell, but for from someone like me suspecting that Xbox is trying to gracefully exit the console market, that "forward compatibility" team is trying to get Xbox games playing on Windows PCs. I mean, it's nice that they're not planning on exiting with a "enjoy your games while the hardware still works" message, so that's nice. They still have a brand to protect via Microsoft so probably feel obligated to have a better exit strategy.
Could be interesting to see what Cliff does with eSports.
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.
You heard the man!. It's Cliffy B. in the house yo!.
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*
I love this guy :3 ♥