Cliff Bleszinski Accuses Epic Of Poaching Boss Key Staff

Cliff Bleszinski, former Epic games design director and co-founder of Boss Key Productions, has publicly accused Epic of hiring away Boss Key staff.

The accusation came from this tweet, where the Boss Key head wrote "Hey @epicgames, could you please stop trying to hire away my team? We just launched @Radical_Heights on #UE4 and are really happy with how it’s going." The tweet includes a gif of actor Jensen Ackles pointing at the camera and saying "Not cool!"

Bleszkinski then followed up with another tweet, saying "There's room at this genre for more than a few games SMH."  

It is unclear who specifically Bleszkinski is referring to in these tweets, but a literal reading of the tweets is that Epic is hiring away people working on Radical Heights, Boss Key Productions' early access battle royale game to work on their own mega-popular battle royale title, Fortnite.

Radical Heights released as an early access title this past week. You can watch us playing the game just after it became playable right here.

 

Our Take
Whether Epic is or isn't hiring away Boss Key staff, bringing it up on public social media feels unnecessary. I am unsure if it's a line in the sand or supposed to engender sympathy but it doesn't really accomplish either.