CONTROL FREAK

A key figure in the video game industry provides an insider’s account of how the business grew to colossal proportions.

In the video game business—worth $180 billion globally—Bleszinski (b. 1975) has iconic status as a designer and developer. Early on, the shy teenager understood the massive potential of computers, and he was drawn into gaming through early classics like Mario Brothers and Zelda. He created and sold his first game while still in high school, drawing attention from the burgeoning industry. This led to a connection with a company called Epic Games, and he developed their first real hit, the Unreal series. The next step was the hugely popular Gears of War series, which helped define the hyperviolent tone and graphic quality of the first-person shooter genre. However, as the author notes, he saw the complex backstories of the characters of Gears as crucial to its success, adding an emotional depth that was missing from most games. He emphasizes that game design is an incredibly difficult process, involving complex teamwork, exhaustingly long hours, and total commitment to the project. The success of these games made Bleszinski wealthy, for which he was unprepared, and he is willing to make fun of himself for trying to live up to the “CliffyB” persona that he created. Eventually, facing burnout and with a string of bad relationships behind him, he set up his own company to design a new type of game. But he found that the business had moved on, and in his mid-40s, he felt like a dinosaur. Nonetheless, he writes, he has found peace and satisfaction with life, and he is proud to have made significant contributions to the industry. It is a somewhat surprising conclusion to the book, but it’s appropriate.

A behind-the-scenes memoir of the video games industry leavened with insight and self-deprecating humor.