40. Cliff Bleszinski

In 1992, a 17 year-old Cliff Bleszinksi (or CliffyB, as he was mockingly called by "some jock kid") took a leap of faith into the industry by submitting a PC game to Tim Sweeney, the CEO of a small company by the name of Epic Megagames. Bleszinski's work impressed Sweeney, and development on his own original project, "Dare to Dream" began. During the development process, Bleszinksi became more involved in the company, providing critical feedback on the other games being worked on at the time.

Though Dare to Dream didn't achieve the success Epic had hoped, Bleszinksi eventually made his mark by crafting the 1994 hit Jazz Jackrabbit. He went on to become a key visionary in Epic's already-established Unreal franchise, shifting the direction of the series from a story-driven, single-player FPS to a more action-oriented, multiplayer experience. Following the continued success of the Unreal games, Bleszinski was promoted to Epic's lead developer, and began work on a new IP.

In 2006, the Xbox 360-exclusive shooter Gears of War was an absolute smash -- receiving numerous honors including the coveted "Game of the Year" award by several publications and the distinction of being the fastest selling videogame of 2006 with sales of over 2 million copies in six weeks. Two years later -- and after making numerous tweaks to the engine -- Gears of War 2 was released and once again, Bleszinksi's gritty, testosterone-packed tactical shooter received critical and commercial acclaim.

Now that Bleszinksi has truly established his place in the gaming industry, he wishes to retire the CliffyB moniker, saying that it's "time to grow up a bit." Luckily for all of us, retiring from game design is something that's still quite a ways off.