IGN Unfiltered

Cliff Bleszinski, renowned designer of Gears of War, Unreal, Unreal Tournament, Jazz Jackrabbit, and more, returns for his first IGN Unfiltered interview since 2016 to discuss his life and career as detailed in his new memoir, Control Freak. Cliff talks about the making of Gears of War, Epic's decision to sell Gears to Microsoft, his friendship with Hideo Kojima, his admiration for Shigeru Miyamoto, and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Justin Roiland reveals the origin of Rick & Morty's voices, the long road towards finally getting a hit show, and the longer road towards creating a successful video game studio – including lots of discussion Squanch's upcoming comedy-FPS, High on Life. WARNING: Explicit language throughout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest this episode is Halo Infinite head of creative and longtime Bungie writer Joseph Staten. In this career-spanning interview, Staten discusses his unique path into the video game industry, the early days of Halo at Bungie, helping create Destiny, and how he's affected Halo Infinite since joining the team in 2020 just prior to the one-year delay. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bethesda Game Studios director Todd Howard – my first repeat guest! – returns to discuss Skyrim as The Elder Scrolls V celebrates its 10th anniversary this week. Of course, we don't just talk about this past. Todd also discusses his next big project, Starfield, and his next next project, The Elder Scrolls 6. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ZeniMax Online Studios boss Matt Firor discusses his long career in MMORPGs, bringing The Elder Scrolls online, what the studio is up to next after the Microsoft acquisition, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shadow Warrior 3 game director Kuba Opoń, who discusses his career in games – from his start as a programmer inspired by Quake 3 to becoming a game director on Shadow Warrior 3 to what makes good first-person shooter AI and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This month's guest is games media investigative reporter Jason Schreier, who's written a new book called Press Reset: Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry. The former Kotaku and current Bloomberg reporter talks about the perils of the game industry in his experience reporting on it, from crunch to studio instability and more, as well as what might be done about it to make the industry a healthier, more sustainable place for its many thousands of talented developers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak talks very openly and honestly about running a AAA independent game studio in the modern era. In this 75-minute interview he discusses leaving Square Enix to go it alone and how the studio almost ran out of money at one point, how the studio landed the James Bond game deal and how the team is thinking about it, the future of Hitman, and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Peter Tamte and Jaime Griesemer, two ex-Halo developers from Bungie, have now teamed up to help bring Six Days in Fallujah, the military shooter based on the real-life Iraq War battle in 2004, to market in 2021 after the original version of it was announced and quickly canceled by publisher Konami in 2009. Tamte and Griesemer discuss how they want the game to be a 'playable documentary', the controversy surrounding the idea of basing a video game on such a modern-day real-world incident, and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guests this episode are Aliens: Fireteam development leads and Cold Iron Studios co-founders Craig Zinkievich and Matt Highison. The duo discusses how they came to get the Aliens license from Disney, the game they were working on before the Disney deal came together, their work on a canceled Marvel superhero MMORPG, building Star Trek Online, and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Raven Software cofounder Brian discusses starting Raven with his brother in Wisconsin, partnering with Doom creators id Software early on, and subsequently working with giant pop culture brands like Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, and Call of Duty. Raven is the lead developer on the single-player campaign in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, which will be released on November 13. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Geoff Keighley – longtime games media personality best known as the host, creator, and executive producer of The Game Awards – discusses his long history with awards shows, his thoughts on the PS5 and Xbox Series X, the cancellation of E3, his famous friendship with Hideo Kojima, and much, much more. [Note: this interview was recorded on July 31, prior to the delay of Halo Infinite, which is referenced here as still releasing this holiday.] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Square Enix External Studios heads Jon Brooke and Lee Singleton discuss their time in the video game industry, from Outriders, their brand-new game with People Can Fly, to their past work on Hitman Go, Sleeping Dogs, Just Cause, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This month's guests are Echtra Games's Max Schaefer and Matt Uelmen, both former Blizzard North developers and co-creators of Diablo and Diablo 2 as well as the Torchlight series. The duo shares stories about Diablo 2 in celebration of its 20th anniversary while also discussing how Diablo has helped them make their new game, Torchlight III, the best action-RPG it can be. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Longtime Bungie art director and eventual game director Marcus Lehto created the Master Chief himself and helmed Halo Reach, one of the series's most beloved entries. In this one-hour interview, Lehto discusses his humble origins, such as how he got Bungie to hire him, as well as leaving the studio in recent years and starting a new studio to work on a new game, June 2020's Disintegration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Valve's Robin Walker and Chris Remo two of the developers behind the long-awaited return of Half-Life in the form of Half-Life: Alyx. In this interview, Walker and Remo discuss everything from the unexpected origins of The Orange Box, Alyx's insane level of audio-design detail, Left 4 Dead 3, Portal VR, and much more – including, yes, Half-Life 3. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guests this month are two of the leaders behind the 2016 reboot of DOOM and the upcoming sequel DOOM Eternal, Hugo Martin and Marty Stratton. In this interview, Martin and Stratton discuss everything from the failed DOOM 4 prototype to why they think DOOM's revival succeeded where Star Wars didn't, and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Veteran game developer Stig Asmussen, who discusses his career in gaming, from being an art director and eventual game director on God of War 3 to leading a team at Respawn Entertainment on the smash-hit Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest this month is Phil Harrison, who joined Sony during the early PlayStation days and rose through the ranks. He shares career stories from behind the scenes of the PS2 and PS3, and also of his time at Microsoft in the late-Xbox 360, early-Xbox One era. And don't miss part 2 of this Unfiltered interview tomorrow, which focuses on Harrison's present-day job running the Stadia platform at Google. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the newly relaunched IGN Unfiltered, my monthly interview series where I sit down with the best, brightest, and most fascinating minds in the video game industry. I'm back with a brand-new bar/arcade set – complete with a working beer tap! My guest this month is Sean Krankel, the creator of Oxenfree and the upcoming Afterparty. In this interview, Sean discusses his unique journey into game development, starting with a job on a late-'90s Aaron Spelling teenage soap opera (during which time he threw up in Spelling's bowling alley), working at Disney, and eventually setting up Night School Studio with his cousin and bringing Oxenfree (and now Afterparty) to life – including how Xbox Game Pass has been a boon to his studio's success. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Longtime Remedy Entertainment writer Sam Lake sat down to discuss his unexpected career, from how helping a friend led to writing Max Payne, creating Alan Wake, the elusive Alan Wake 2, lessons learned from Quantum Break, and how it's all led to Remedy's new game, Control. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Longtime Bethesda Game Studios director Todd Howard joins us to discuss his Hall of Fame career, from the Terminator first-person shooter that got him started to the incredible success of The Elder Scrolls series to the acquisition of the Fallout IP to his new sci-fi project, Starfield. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of our monthly interview show IGN Unfiltered, veteran game creator Denis Dyack talks about his wild career that started at Silicon Knights, from convincing Nintendo not to nix Eternal Darkness's sanity effects to working with Hideo Kojima to suing Epic Games, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot sits down to discuss his incredible 30+ year career at Ubisoft, from co-founding the company with his brothers to meeting a 17-year-old Michel Ancel for the first time to partnering up with Tom Clancy to why he's super excited for the next-gen consoles and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special episode of our monthly interview series IGN Unfiltered, filmed at the DICE Summit in Las Vegas, game design legend Amy Hennig (Uncharted series, Legacy of Kain series) and Insomniac Games founder Ted Price (Marvel's Spider-Man, Ratchet and Clank series, Sunset Overdrive, Resistance series) separately join us to discuss their decorated careers. Hennig talks about her canceled Star Wars game with EA, codenamed 'Ragtag', experimenting with VR, and much more. Price, after having been a guest on Unfiltered last fall prior to Spider-Man's release, talks about what life has been like since their open-world superhero adventure took the world by storm and won a number of awards in the process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

343 Industries studio head and AIAS Hall of Famer Bonnie Ross discusses her entire career in this 70-minute interview, from her start on an NBA basketball game to how she came to ask for – and get – the keys to the Halo franchise, including the trials of Master Chief Collection and the lessons being applied to Halo Infinite. She discusses taking over Halo from Bungie, the mistakes of the Master Chief Collection, the reception of Halo 4, what they've learned from Halo 5, and what 343's approach is for Halo Infinite. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Longtime NBA 2K gameplay director Mike Wang discusses his fascinating career story, including getting noticed on a message board, leaving 2K for EA's NBA Live and immediately regretting it, coming back, and much more in this one-hour interview! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Underworld Ascendant creative director Joe Fielder has enjoyed quite a career. From starting out as a video game journalist to crossing over to game development and working with the likes of Steven Spielberg, Ken Levine (BioShock), and Warren Spector (Deus Ex), he is now releasing a spiritual successor to the beloved Ultima Underworld.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3D Realms founder Scott Miller has worked on a lot of memorable games in his career, from Duke Nukem 3D to Max Payne to the original Prey to Duke Nukem Forever. He discusses his experiences making games in this hour-long interview.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ted Price founded Insomniac Games almost 20 years ago. In this hour-long interview, he details his life and career in video games, from his chance meeting with a future business partner to his early bet on PlayStation to creating games like Spyro, Ratchet and Clank, Sunset Overdrive, and now Spider-Man.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cam Weber is the head of EA Sports, but along the way he's been a college quarterback, a sports game developer, an executive producer on Simpsons and Scarface games, and more! Hear all about his fascinating career in this hour-long interview! And don't miss all of the other episodes of Unfiltered if you're new to the show! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cissy Jones has been a voice actor in many games you know and love: Firewatch, Telltale's The Walking Dead, Grand Theft Auto 5, and now Darksiders 3. Hear all about her fascinating career in this hour-long interview! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Josh Sawyer is a longtime veteran of renowned RPG studio Obsidian Entertainment, and he's seen a lot in his career. From his history-based beginnings to Fallout, Pillars of Eternity, and much more, his story is a fascinating one!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Xbox creator Seamus Blackley shares stories from his incredible career, from being given the name Seamus at his first game development job, to the infamous first-person PC game Trespasser, to creating the Xbox at Microsoft, and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Filmmaker-turned-game-maker Josef Fares, the writer-director of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and A Way Out, shares stories from his career, including his (in)famous "F*** the Oscars!" rant from The Game Awards, his thoughts on Roger Ebert's "games aren't art" stance, and much more!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rare studio head Craig Duncan chats about his life and career, including his time running Rare. He discusses how Sea of Thieves arrived at its pirate theme, whether they might let other studios work on classic Rare IP, the Kinect years, and much more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Diablo creator David Brevik recounts his fascinating career making games, including how a Justice League game led to Diablo, the meteoric success of Diablo and Diablo II, his years at Blizzard, and what he's up to now.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

thatgamecompany co-founder Jenova Chen talks about his fascinating game development career, from growing up as a gamer in China to what it took to create Journey, as well as his quest to bring games to more people, his new project Sky, and more!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former FASA Studio head Mitch Gitelman discusses his career, including the infamous 2007 Shadowrun first-person shooter for Xbox, MechCommander, BattleTech, and more! Check out the video above for the entire interview! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cuphead is one of gaming's best success stories of 2017. The hand-drawn 2D-animated bullet-hell shooter captured everyone's attention a few years ago, and has held onto it ever since – right up through its long-awaited and fantastic final release and its millionth copy sold. Now, brothers Chad and Jared Moldenhauer of Studio HDMR spend an hour-plus discussing their incredible story, from growing up as Contra fans and classic animation fans to leaving their day jobs to finally finishing Cuphead. Check out the video above for the entire interview! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fullbright co-founder Steve Gaynor has had an amazing from-the-ground-up career in video game development. From QA testing at Sony to making F.E.A.R. levels to BioShock 2 to BioShock Infinite and now to Gone Home and Tacoma, his story is both fascinating and inspiring. Please enjoy the full hour-long interview! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The president and CEO of Borderlands creator Gearbox Studios returns after his initial visit last month to finish his story. This time, he shares more stories from his fascinating career in games, including Aliens: Colonial Marines, Battleborn, the future of Borderlands, and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The president and CEO of Borderlands creator Gearbox Studios shares stories from his fascinating career in games, including getting his start on Duke Nukem 3D, working on Half-Life, Halo, Brothers in Arms, and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The creator of Deus Ex, System Shock, Ultima Underworld, Epic Mickey, and more sits down for an hour-long interview about his entire fascinating career. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brian Fargo has had a fascinating career, from developing RPGs like Fallout, Bard's Tale, and Wasteland in the '80s at Interplay to helping kickstart Blizzard to working with Nintendo on a typing edutainment game to his success at inXile today. We talk to him about all of it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Harmonix co-founder Alex Rigopulos discusses his unique career, from starting Harmonix out of MIT to Disney using some of their tech for theme parks to, of course, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Dance Central, and the rise and fall of the music game genre. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Peter Molyneux's career has been fascinating, whether you play his games or not. His resume includes Populous, Dungeon Keeper, Theme Park, Fable, and many more. This two-hour interview covers all of it, including other topics like Kinect and his future in games, among others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ultima creator Richard Garriott tells us incredible stories about his life and career, including his early Ultima success, changing the gaming world with Ultima Online, visiting outer space as a private-citizen astronaut, exploring (and getting stuck under) the Titanic's remains at the bottom of the Atlantic, his thoughts on the future of the RPG genre, his new project Shroud of the Avatar, and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon discusses his career, including the origin and rise of the franchise, the still-beloved movie, Injustice, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Longtime Black Isle Studios and Obsidian Entertainment CEO Feargus Urquhart shares stories about his career, including working with South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, getting burned by big publishers, building his own IP, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices