The designer of Unreal and Gears of War offers an eye-opening personal account of the video game industry as it grew from niche hobby to hundred-billion-dollar enterprise. Video games are dominating the planet. In 2020 they brought in $180 billion dollars globally--nearly $34 billion in the United States alone. So who are the brilliant designers who create these stunning virtual worlds? Cliff Bleszinski--or CliffyB as he is known to gamers--is one of the few who ve reached mythical rock star status. In Control Freak he gives an unvarnished all-access tour of the business. Toiling away in his bedroom Bleszinski created and shipped his first game before graduating high school and at just seventeen joined a fledgling company called Epic Games. He describes the grueling hours obscene amounts of Mountain Dew and obsessive focus necessary to achieve his singular creative visions. He details Epic s rise to industry leader thanks largely to his work on bestselling franchises Unreal and Gears of War (and later his input on a little game called Fortnite) as well as his own awkward ascent from shy acne-riddled introvert to sports car-driving celebrity rubbing shoulders with Bill Gates. As he writes No one is weirder than a nerd with money. While the book is laced with such self-deprecating humor Bleszinski also bluntly addresses the challenges that have long-faced the gaming community including sexism and a lack of representation among both designers and the characters they create. Control Freak is a hilarious thoughtful and inspiring memoir. Even if you don t play games you ll walk away from this book recognizing them as a true art form and appreciating the genius of their creators.