Cliff Bleszinski Says Microsoft and Gears of War Dev Would Ask for His Help ‘If They Were Smart’

Gears of War co-creator Cliff Bleszinski is confident Microsoft and developer The Coalition would benefit from his ideas, saying they would bring him in to consult on the next entry “if they were smart”.

Bleszinski posted a statement on X/Twitter to suggest Microsoft isn’t interested in collaborating with him on more Gears of War games despite his assertion “it would be gold”.

“I’m down to consult, give my two cents. Crickets,” Bleszinski said. “I understand that Gears will always be an enormous part of my legacy. I appreciate and respect that. That said, Microsoft or The Coalition haven’t hit me up. Okay. It is what it is.

“If they were smart, they’d enlist me for my input because, just from a PR standpoint alone it would be gold. But nothing. Ah well. It is what it is. So be it. Last few years I’ve moved on. Boss Key didn’t work out. Fine. S**t happens.”

Boss Key Productions was the studio Bleszinski founded after leaving Epic Games (which owned Gears of War initially) in 2012. It only lasted from 2014 to 2018, however, with neither of its games able to gain much traction.

Commenting on the success of Palworld, commonly dubbed Pokémon with guns, Bleszinski also insisted he’d had a similar idea years ago. “Palworld’s success kinda validates my pitch that was turned down at Epic many years ago: medieval Pokémon with baby dragons instead,” he said in another post.

Gears of War’s latest mainline release was 2019’s Gears 5, although turn-based tactics spin-off Gears Tactics launched a year later in 2020. Work on another game is almost certainly underway, though Microsoft is yet to say anything official.

Bleszinski said in October 2023 he believes the franchise needs a God of War style reboot to make the next entry more appealing to gamers, and again made clear he was happy to consult on what that would be.

In our 9/10 review of the last mainline game, IGN said: “No matter which mode you approach it from, Gears 5 is an incredibly fun and polished game.”

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.