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"Epic Games today announced that Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski has left the studio. In a post on Epic&amp;#039;s blog, studio founder Tim Sweeney said his farewell to the iconic designer.  &amp;quot;In 20 wonderful years with Epic, Cliff Bleszinski has grown into a true design luminary, and his contributions to the Unreal and Gears series have helped shape the game industry into what it is today,&amp;quot; Sweeney said. &amp;quot;Cliff leaves Epic with our gratitude for his many contributions, and our wishes for continued success in the next chapter of his life!&amp;quot; Bleszinski gave his own farewell statement on the blog, saying: &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;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&amp;#039;m grown up, it&amp;#039;s time for a much needed break. &amp;quot;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. &amp;quot;I have been fortunate enough to collaborate with a variety of disciplines, from code to art to marketing and PR - it&amp;#039;s been one big, rewarding learning experience. I&amp;#039;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.&amp;quot; Bleszinski has been a designer for Epic Games for nearly 20 years, shaping franchises such as Jazz Jackrabbit, Unreal, Unreal Tournament and Gears of War. He was most recently working on Epic&amp;#039;s upcoming co-op survival game Fortnite and Gears of War: Judgement. Cliff Bleszinski&amp;#039;s future plans are unknown at this time, though his personal statement appears to indicate he may be stepping away from the video game industry entirely, at least temporarily. Screenshot gallery - images of Fortnite below:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/news/a410116/cliff-bleszinski-leaves-epic-games/>