KingsIsle Entertainment vice president and creative director Todd Coleman today announced his departure from the company he helped found in 2005.
[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":610806,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"games,","session":"A"}']KingsIsle is best known for Wizard 101, a family-friendly, free-to-play online game.
Coleman announced his departure today on his Facebook fan page. He called his post “one of the hardest I have ever written,” but he said that this “is something that I have to do.”
He didn’t give specifics, but he said that he is working on “a new company, a new game, a new story. I’m not ready to say, but when I’ve got something to show, you guys will be the first to know.”
Below is his open letter to the community:
Goodbye, thank you, and a new beginning.
This update is going to be one of the hardest that I have written, so please hang with me as I try and get through it.
I have decided to leave KingsIsle and pursue my own course. This might sound crazy – and, full disclosure, it probably is – but it is something that I have to do.
What a fantastic experience this has been! As the creative lead of our games, and the first employee hired in Austin, I was in the unique position to watch this team blossom, and watch our games grow from niche titles to mainstream popularity. Wow! A handful of dreamers got together and turned an unknown start-up into the market leader for family online entertainment… That’s not something you see every day. I am blessed to have been able to play a role, and I know that I am leaving the company in capable hands. I have no doubt that the Spiral will continue to expand for many years.
What is next for me? I’m a storyteller, so I will keep doing what I do best – dream up ideas, breathe life into characters, build worlds for you to explore… only next time, I want to do it for myself. I’m an entrepreneur at heart. A new company, a new game, a new story… I’m not ready to say, but when I’ve got something to show, you guys will be the first to know.
I want to thank you for becoming a part of this community. Your patronage has allowed me to work with my best friends, and to entertain you, for almost a decade. You gave me a chance to build something, something unique and wonderful. These are more than games to me. I see these worlds when I sleep. I greet these characters like old friends.
These are the dreams that filled my childhood. I cannot tell you how fortunate I am, to have been given the chance to share them with you.
Thank you.
J. Todd Coleman
“Headmaster Ambrose”
KingsIsle’s official Wizard 101 forums also had a post about Coleman’s departure.