Chris Avellone leaves Obsidian

Chris Avellone, co-founder and creative director at Obsidian Entertainment, announced on Twitter this morning that he has left the company.

"I have officially left Obsidian Entertainment to accept a sudden opening as the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts," he tweeted. "(The first part is serious, but much love and well wishes to my fellow devs, good folks one and all.)"

Avellone hasn't said what he intends to get up to next, but he was recently involved in the development of Wasteland 2 and FTL: Advanced Edition, and is also taking part in InXile's Torment: Tides of Numenera. Previously, he's worked on Fallout 2, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale, and Fallout: New Vegas. He co-founded Obsidian in 2003, after departing from Interplay. Interestingly, and almost certainly coincidentally, his fellow former Interplay man Brian Fargo said yesterday that he and Avellone hope to one day revive the long-lost Van Buren project, the last game Avellone worked on at Interplay.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.