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Epic Games Claims Ownership Over Jazz Jackrabbit in Fortnite Legal Tussle With Gears of War Creator
IGN • • technology
Key Points:
- Cliff Bleszinski, creator of Jazz Jackrabbit and longtime Epic Games developer, is unable to secure the rights to Jazz Jackrabbit from Epic despite being the character's original creator.
- Jazz Jackrabbit, created by Bleszinski at age 17 and released in 1994, became Epic's biggest hit at the time and recently appeared in Fortnite as a Sprite, but Epic claims full ownership of the character.
- Bleszinski expressed disappointment over the legal deadlock, noting that while paperwork is missing, Epic continues to pay him royalties and monetize Jazz in Fortnite, preventing him from reviving the character himself.
- He stated that any future projects inspired by Jazz Jackrabbit would be spiritual successors rather than direct continuations, due to the unresolved rights issues.
- Meanwhile, Bleszinski's other creation, the Gears of War franchise, has recently seen a revival with the release of Gears of War: E-Day, a prequel to the original 2006 game.
