'Civilization 5' Designer Jon Shafer Leaves Paradox Citing Creative Differences
Jon Shafer, the designer of Sid Meier's "Civilization 5" has parted ways with Paradox Interactive. This was announced by Swedish game publisher saying that they decided to part ways "due to creative differences."
"Jon is an ambitious person with a lot of drive and passion and he has led some good discussions in our teams over the past few months," said Executive Vice President of Studios at Paradox Interactive Mattias Lilja. "However, during the course of these discussions, it has become clear that we want different things creatively and we have therefore taken the mutual decision that it is best to part ways."
Shafer confirmed his departure from Paradox on the Kickstarter page for his upcoming 4X game "At the Gates." He declined to go into the details of the split but stated that he still loves Paradox and its games and is sad that things didn't work out.
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Following his departure, Shafer said that he will continue working on "At the Gates" adding that he now has a "clear plan on the design front" and intends to complete the development. The game was originally scheduled for a 2014 release but was later delayed. So far the Shafer has yet to announce a release date for the strategy title.
Shafer's tenure at Paradox lasted roughly six months. The publisher brought the designer under their wing to start an unnamed project back in May and also sent out job offerings for "experienced programmers and other roles to join Shafer's team." So far, Paradox has not yet revealed any details regarding the project's fate following Shafer's departure.
Following his work in Sid Meier's "Civilization 5," Shafer left AAA development to founding Conifer Games, in 2013. He has spent a considerable portion of his time working on the studio's projects assuring backers and fans of his work at Conifer Games that they should look forward to weekly updates on the team's progress.
