One of the major people behind the popularity of Fortnite is leaving Epic Games

Epic Games will soon say, "Farewell", to one of their most highly influential team members. Donald Mustard, who joined Epic Games in 2008, and has served as the developer's Chief Creative Officer since 2016, has announced he will depart the company sometime later in September.

In a post on his X (formerly Twitter) account, Mustard remarked on his long career in game development, starting with helping to create the sci-fi action game Advent Rising in 2005. He later co-founded Chair Entertainment, which created games like Undertow and Shadow Complex, both of which were major critical and sales successes for Microsoft's Xbox 360 console and its Xbox Live Arcade service.

After being acquired by Epic Games in 2008, Chair developed the Infinity Blade trilogy of iOS games. After being named Epic's Chief Creative Officer, Mustard led the development of Fortnite, which first launched in 2017 with its originally planned Save The World mode. The game's popularity took off when Epic launched its free-to-play Battle Royale mode later in 2017.

In his farewell post, Mustard stated:

I am humbled to have been a part of the team that every day tries to bring ‘joy and delight’ to the Fortnite community! We love watching you experience every moment - leaping from the Battle Bus for the very first time, seeing the rocket crack open the sky, dancing with friends after a Victory Royale, being sucked into a black hole or being washed out to sea as The Island flipped over - and on and on! I can’t wait to now share in the future of Fortnite as a player alongside all of you!

Mustard has not offered any info on his future plans, other than he says he will "spend time with my wife and family". There's no word on who will fill the Chief Creative Officer position at Epic.