Donald Mustard, chief creative officer of Fortnite developer Epic Games, announced he’ll leave the studio at the end of September.
“I have enjoyed nearly 25 years in the game industry collaborating with some of the most talented people ever,” wrote Mustard on Twitter. “I’m excited to spend time with my wife and family and am forever grateful for Tim Sweeney and the Epic Games family.”
Like plenty of other storied developers, Epic Games is defined in part by its front-facing staff. Then-designer and producer Cliff Bleszinski and Rod Fergusson shared that prominence during the studio’s original Gears of War era, and it later shifted to Mustard and CEO Tim Sweeney with Fortnite’s continued popularity.
At the time of writing, Epic hasn’t revealed who will step into the chief creative officer role following Mustard’s exit.
A history of Donald Mustard and Epic Games
Prior to becoming CCO for Epic, Mustard was a designer for GlyphX Games’ Advent Rising from 2005. With his brother (and Advent Rising co-designer) Geremy, Mustard went on to found Chair Entertainment that same year. The studio’s best-known work is 2009’s Shadow Complex, on which he served as director and creative director.
In 2016, Mustard became the worldwide creative director for Epic (which acquired Chair in 2008). Under his purview, the studio expanded its games portfolio with titles such as Battle Breakers. Not all of those titles panned out, but the initial release of Fortnite in 2017 paved the way for it to become a hit and fixture of popular culture.
Speaking about the ongoing multiplayer game, Mustard wrote that he was “especially proud of the opportunity I’ve had to help create and shape [it].”