Cliff Bleszinski says new studio is 'a matter of when and with who'

Cliff Bleszinski's departure from Epic Games came in the midst of large shifts at the studio, just between other high-profile figures Rod Fergusson and Mike Capps. Bleszinski says that, after a brief stint of enjoying his new-found freedom, he's actively meeting with publishers and feels certain he'll start his own studio.

"I've been working with them since I was 17 years old. It's time for a fresh start," Bleszinski told G4. "I'll start a new studio maybe at some point. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when and with who."

He says he wants to stretch out his creative muscles and create new things. "I don't really want just the whole chainsaw gun to be my legacy, you know? A lot of these kids who have only been playing games for the last however many years, they think that's the only thing I ever did. They forget about Jazz Jackrabbit, Unreal Tournament, that I worked on things like Bulletstorm and a little bit on Shadow Complex. Moving forward I would hope to work on something new and fresh and redefine my legacy. Stephen Spielberg didn't want to be known for just E.T. so he made a lot of different kinds of things."

He said he spent about a month doing "absolutely nothing," but then got bored and started meeting with developers and publishers. His lips were mostly sealed when it came to his prospects, but he did reveal that he went to Paris to meet with Ubisoft.