Former Unreal Engine ‘lead evangelist’ Sjoerd De Jong leaves Epic Video games, says the business is reaching a ‘pivotal’ second that he should ‘come to phrases with’

Sjoerd De Jong, an Unreal Engine knowledgeable from its early days who joined Epic Video games full-time in 2014—first as “lead evangelist” and most just lately because the senior director of an unannounced challenge—has left the corporate, he revealed final week in a LinkedIn put up.

“After 27 years of Unreal Engine, and 12 years at Epic Video games and Unreal Engine I’ve determined to maneuver on. Final week was my final week at Epic,” De Jong wrote. “This has been an superior journey that has been really life altering in so some ways. I did not have a simple childhood or youth and issues weren’t going wherever, however all of that modified completely once I found Unreal Engine.”

De Jong’s historical past with Unreal goes again to when he was 15 years outdated, modding the unique 1998 FPS. He was such a outstanding map creator he was straight approached by Epic to work on Unreal Match 2004, the place he designed ranges like DM-Rankin and ONS-Torlan, the previous of which was the most-played UT2004 map of all time based on server stats cataloged on the Unreal wiki. The portfolio on his web site gives a chicken’s-eye overview of his different work on video games like Killzone and The Ball.

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Whereas he labored at a wide range of studios through the years, together with Starbreeze and his personal indie firm, Teotl Studios, Unreal Engine has lengthy been a ardour and specialty—a lot in order that Epic Video games dubbed De Jong the engine’s “lead evangelist” when it employed him in 2014.

Within the latest LinkedIn put up, he talked about how a lot working with the engine’s numerous incarnations at Epic modified his life: “Dozens of nations visited, lots of of studios visited, lots of of talks introduced, tens of hundreds of individuals met, and thousands and thousands of builders supported yearly.”

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As for why he is determined to go away Epic now, De Jong wrote that “this period has come to an in depth, and it’s time to transfer ahead.”

“The video games business has all the time been an business the place change is relentless and inevitable, but it surely seems like we’re reaching a pivotal level now and a potent mixture of issues,” he wrote.

Epic just lately unveiled its plans for Unreal Engine 6, which can merge Unreal Engine 5 and Unreal Editor for Fortnite, and is concentrated on “enabling content material, code, and economies to change into moveable and interoperable throughout video games, ecosystems, and engines by way of open requirements,” in addition to generative AI integration.

Transferring ahead, De Jong says it might be strategic for him to “come to phrases with the place [the industry] is heading and to work out the best way to adapt and excel at fixing the challenges and alternatives that we face.”