Epic Games refused to hand Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski the rights to Jazz Jackrabbit, though he claimed neither side had the paperwork.
The hare hasn’t exactly been gathering dust, either. More than three decades after Bleszinski first doodled him, Epic slotted Jazz into Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 4 as the Jackrabbit Sprite, which grants players an extra mid-air jump. So when his creator came asking for him back, Epic dug in.
Cliff Bleszinski says Epic won’t budge on Jazz Jackrabbit rights
In a November 7 post on X, Bleszinski wrote: “After lawyering up Epic claims they fully own the rights to Jazz Jackrabbit and won’t back down in spite of not having any paperwork to prove it (nor do I).”
Still, he pointed out that Epic pays him “from sales of it on GoG (which means paperwork exists somewhere)” and is “still happy to monetize him in FN,” referring to Fortnite.
Epic, however, stood by its position. In a statement to Dexerto, the company said: “Epic owns the Jazz Jackrabbit IP. We pay 100% of revenue generated by the Jazz Jackrabbit games on Gog.com to the four individuals who developed the game, including Cliff Bleszinski.”
The statement didn’t address the missing paperwork or his claim that he created the character before joining the company.
To make his case, Bleszinski also dredged up his first high school sketches of the gun-toting rabbit, drawn when he was around 17. When Limited Run Games CEO Josh Fairhurst asked whether the doodles proved the character predated Epic, Bleszinski replied that one would think so.
He joined Epic in 1992, and the rollicking platformer, coded by Arjan Brussee, launched in 1994 as the studio’s biggest seller at the time. Today, the game’s GOG listing names Epic as developer and publisher and identifies Jazz Jackrabbit as an Epic trademark.
In a statement to IGN, Bleszinski said, “Jazz was my first hit and will always have a spot in my heart.” Even so, he said any future Jazz-like project would have to take the spiritual sequel route. “Business is business, I suppose,” he wrote.
A spiritual sequel would join a growing wishlist, after Bleszinski revealed earlier this year that he still wants to make a game that mixes John Wick and Carrie.
I’m Abhishek Sharma, an author at TigerJek.com. I enjoy exploring games, testing different strategies, and turning what I learn into clear, useful guides. My goal is to help players understand the game better and improve without the usual confusion.
