Gears Of War Creator Discusses His Alien Game Pitch And What Went Wrong

Years ago, Gears of War creator and designer Cliff Bleszinski had a pitch for an Aliens game based on the popular film series. The game didn't get off the ground, though, due in part to Disney, according to Bleszinski. Speakng to ComicBook, Bleszinski said he was "basically" in talks to make an Aliens game, and he even pitched it to the team at Boss Key.

But before things went further, Disney apparently stepped in and put an end to it following its buyout of Alien franchise owner 20th Century Fox. "I had a whole pitch gathered together, and then of course the House of Mouse had to kick in the door and f**k everything up, which was one of the many cascading failures that led to the failure of Boss Key," Bleszinski said.

In 2019, Disney completed its blockbuster deal to buy the majority of Fox's entertainment assets for $71 billion, including Aliens, Deadpool, Family Guy, The Simpsons, X-Men, and more.

"Aliens will always be near and dear to my heart. The first one is such a perfect movie about suspense. The second one is suspense, but also the ultimate action movie. [Director James Cameron], I'm not the biggest Avatar fan, but Cameron just is brilliant," Bleszinski added.

Before this, Bleszinski told ComingSoon that Boss Key "had a chance" to work on the Aliens franchise. He said Aliens and Firefly are the two existing entertainment franchises that he would consider getting involved with. He also added that Disney buying Fox--the owner of the Alien franchise--was the reason why things got "effed."

There have been many Alien games over the years. The latest release was Aliens: Dark Descent, which was released in June 2023.

In other news, Bleszinski recently discussed how he believes the Gears of War series could use a God of War-style reboot.