Andy_Howells October 7, 2008 PWNage 35 views Comments Print This Post  Email This Post

The much outspoken and apparently malevolent Cliffy B has said that Activision’s approach to outsourcing the Call of Duty franchise to Treyarch is a move that will cause it to become “soulless”. Speaking to Developmag the Gears of War design director said that by handing over IP’s (Intellectual Properties) to other developers, a game’s “quality is lost in translation”. Bleszinski also mentioned that he wouldn’t allow another developer anywhere near Gears of War and that by games changing developers they lose their core ideals and end up being empty in comparison.

Concerning Gears he said “We’ve got a lot of ideas about where the franchise will go. But sometimes I feel a franchise loses something when it’s shifted off to another shop. You get the primary studio that really understands about [sic] the franchise, and sometimes the other studio that takes it over
can do well, but there’s something lost in translation, like the game’s soul has gone”.

Whilst I would agree with C Blizcuit, especially concerning my abhorrence with Call of Duty 3, it seems a rather elitist thing to say, almost school boyish by saying “My company is better than your company, cause we would never do that!”. But alas, Bliffy C will continue to exert his opinions and who can blame him, under his direction Gears of War is one of the best IP’s ever to grace the Xbox 360. So in the end, this is a guy who knows what he is talking about, no matter how many nicknames I can think up to replace his current one.

- Andy Howells