Cliff Bleszinski Claims Fortnite Dev Stealing Radical Heights Staff

Former Epic Games Design Director and co-founder of Boss Key Productions Cliff Bleszinski recently took to Twitter and accused his former employer of trying to hire members of his Boss Key Staff.

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. pic.twitter.com/pe2DoZNuRq

— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) April 13, 2018

Bleszinki's current studio recently released a newcomer to the extremely popular battle royale genre in Radical Heights, which brings an 80's game show twist to the genre. The game is currently in "X-Treme Early Access" with Boss Key rolling the free to play title onto the marketplace after five months of development. Following up his assertion that Epic Games is trying to steal members of his staff, Bleszinski stated in a follow up tweet that the alleged poaching is in relation to the new competition found between the two studios, as Epic's Fortnite Battle Royale is currently at the top title in the genre that Radical Heights is looking to make a name for itself in. 

There's room at this genre for more than a few games SMH

— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) April 13, 2018

Responding to the alleged hiring away of employees by Epic Games, multiple people gave their thoughts on the accusation by Cliff Bleszinski, including an employee of Epic Games.

With all due respect, assuming that Epic is the one starting contact / poaching is a bit presumptuous. We all had our own reasons for making the choice to leave BKP for Epic, and to act like we are commodities being stolen is a bit hurtful. We are people first and foremost.

— William McCarroll (@NerdbloggerWil) April 14, 2018

With Boss Key Productions last major title, Lawbreakers, not living up to expectations, due to it failing to compete in the hero shooter genre with Blizzard Entertainment's Overwatch, many pointed to the fast paced development of an extremely early access title in a genre already dominated by Fortnite and Player Unknowns Battlegrounds (PUBG) as a reason to why some employees may have chosen to move to greener pastures. However, with a strong focus on development fueld by player feedback, there is no reason why Radical Heights could not move up into the top echelon of the battle royale genre in the future. 

Hopefully, Bleszinski and Epic Games will be able to learn to coexist in the genre with the community reaping the benefits of being able to enjoy both Fortnite and Radical Heights.

(cover photo courtesy of DualShockers)