Former Gears of War and Unreal Tournament designer Cliff Bleszinski has spoken candidly about his long struggle with alcoholism, revealing he is now four months sober following a drinking-related seizure in March. In an interview with Brian Crecente for 80 Level, he traced his addiction back to his early-2000s work on Unreal Tournament, admitting the Gears of War trilogy was "largely developed hungover" while he was a functioning alcoholic, before later becoming a non-functioning one. His openness sheds light on the toll industry drinking culture and personal hardship can take, as he now weighs a possible return to game development.

Bleszinski also reflected on the collapse of shooter LawBreakers and his studio Boss Key Productions, co-founded with Arjan Brussee, describing it as a "snowball of failure" that "tripped so Concord could faceplant" and calling the day he announced the closure to staff one of the hardest of his life. He said the fallout left him with little motivation to get out of bed, but he is now doing better and considering a full-time comeback, ruling out another PvP project in favour of PvE, citing Horde mode's role in saving Gears 2.