Gears of War's Cliffy B gives up on returning to the series: "If they were smart, they'd enlist me"

Cliff Bleszinski (sometimes known as Cliffy B) has mentioned on multiple occasions that he was interested in returning to the Gears of War series, but after publically gunning for a consulting gig, he now says that "it's time to move on."

Bleszinski was previously the lead designer on the original Gears of War trilogy before founding the now-defunct studio Boss Key Productions and spearheading the gravity-defying arena shooter Lawbreakers. On social media and in various interviews over the last few months, Bleszinski has vocally expressed interest in returning to the storied franchise. Speaking to Comic Book, the designer pitched a soft reboot for the shooter series before saying "Phil Spencer has my number." 

Blezinski has now released a statement about the situation on social media. "We've been over this a million times," he begins. "I'm down to consult. Give my two cents. I understand that Gears will always be an enormous part of my legacy. I appreciate and respect that. That said, [publisher Microsoft and developer Coalition] haven't hit me up. OK. It is what it is."

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The ex-developer then says that if the two companies were "smart," they would "enlist" him for input because "just from a PR standpoint alone it would be gold." He leaves the note on a slightly more optimistic note, explaining that he's since moved on from the series and toward broadway, memoirs, and a comic book series called Scrapper. 

"As much as I appreciate your support and those who know me from my Gears work (I did a lot more than that game series, for the record) it’s time to move on," he says. 

The bloody third-person shooter-chainsaw series hasn’t enjoyed a new entry since 2019's Gears 5 and its excellent Hivebusters expansion a year later. Though, fans of hunky army soldiers and scaly underground monsters can look forward to the upcoming live-action film and animated series currently in development at Netflix.

See everything in development at Xbox Game Studios with our handy guide.