Cliff Bleszinski

Profession: Video Game Designer

Biography: Cliff Bleszinski, also known as CliffyB, is best known for his work on the Unreal and Gears of War game series at Epic Games.

Bleszinski showed an early interest in video games: at age 13, he achieved a record high score in Super Mario Bros. and was featured in Nintendo Power magazine; by age 15, he had developed his first game called The Palace of Deceit.

In 1992, Bleszinski joined Epic Games after sending them his game Dare to Dream. There he helped make Jazz Jackrabbit in 1994, which was very successful, before turning to work on the Unreal series of games.

His most important contribution, however, was leading the design of the Gears of War games. Gears of War sold over 22 million copies and made more than a billion dollars by 2014. Bleszinski left Epic in 2012 after 20 years.

In 2014, Bleszinski started a new company called Boss Key Productions with Arjan Brussee which created a new game called LawBreakers. This sold poorly, however, and Boss Key closed in 2018.

Since then, Bleszinski has invested in theater shows like Hadestown and written a book about his life called "Control Freak" (2022). In 2023, he announced a new comic book series called Scrapper.

Born: February 12, 1975
Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Age: 49 years old

Generation: Generation X
Chinese Zodiac: Rabbit
Star Sign: Aquarius