We’re having some high-profile departures from the games industry lately. The BioWare doctors bid farewell recently, Epic Games lost Big Bad Rod Fergusson to Bioshock Infinite and now, now the outspoken Cliff Bleszinski has also said his goodbyes. Cliffy B co-founded Epic 20 years ago, gave PC gamers the spectacular Unreal Tournament and helped create the mega-franchise to compete with Halo and Call of Duty – Gears of War.

Cliff hasn’t stated what exactly his intentions are now that he’s leaving the business behind but he has given all of us a nice goodbye statement:

I’ve been doing this since I was a teenager, and outside of my sabbatical last year, I have been going non-stop. I literally grew up in this business, as Mike likes to say. And now that I’m grown up, it’s time for a much needed break.

I will miss the projects, the playtests, the debates, and most importantly, the people. Epic only hires the best of the best, and it has been a joy working with each and every one of you on a daily basis, whether you were hired weeks ago or decades ago. I have been fortunate enough to collaborate with a variety of disciplines, from code to art to marketing and PR – it’s been one big, rewarding learning experience. I’m confident that each project that is being built, whether at Epic, Chair, PCF, or Impossible will be top notch and will please gamers and critics alike.

With so many big names leaving, are games losing their appeal? Have we hit the tipping point? I hope not but what do you geeks think?

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