Gears of War Creator Talks About Early Days of Series, Achievements, and Releasing Franchise Games Annually

Cliff Bleszinski is one of the most respected video game developers of the industry today, having worked as creative director for Epic, before splitting from the company where he worked on one of the biggest franchises on the Xbox 360, Gears of War. In a new Question & Answer session with Kotaku, he revealed some new details about the early days in the series. When asked about the coolest features he had to cut out of a game, he said that, much like Call of Duty: Ghosts, the first Gears of War game had dog companions early on in its development:

"Sometimes you need to ship with the bare minimum of cool and then polish the cut ideas for a sequel, strangely enough. Gears 1 had a canine helper with you that was cut early in the game. Guess word got out to Activision."

Having a dog companion that could help players take down the Locust and possibly get involved in the brutal melee moves of the game would of certainly been interesting. Bleszinski also discussed his feelings about annually releasing franchise titles, which he is personally against:

"Annualization [sic] is the business way of mitigating risk on a long-term franchise. It can burn a franchise to the ground or, in a crowded marketplace, keep it relevant. Lately I'm more in the camp of Rockstar-release a world-bending sequel whenever it's darned well ready."

While some developers such as Ubisoft and EA Sports are bent on creating new games every year for marquee franchises, Bleszinski feels as though developers should focus on creating quality produces rather than trying to develop games for a set time frame, which may be why he is no longer with Epic. Finally, the developer revealed his feelings about achievements in games, and how he feels that Valve's new trading card system is the best overall achievement system thus far:

"I used to like them. The more I worked around with the system the less I liked them. Watching my wife do a bunch of silly things in a game just for the points bothers the heck out of me. If you ask me, a system more like what Valve is doing with their cards is far more compelling for the future of games."

Bleszinski has always been outspoken about his views, that's partly what's endeared him to many gamers. Anyone wishing to hear more from the developer should check out his blog.