Last week, Epic Games announced they are cutting back their staff by 16%, or roughly 830 employees. This morning, the company’s Director of Publicity Strategy, Sergiy Galyonkin, announced that his last day with Epic Games is today, October 2, 2023. It is unclear if the two events are correlated, but Galyonkin’s abrupt departure is certainly a surprise.
Before Epic Games, Galyonkin created the website Steam Spy in 2015. The site collects data from players’ Steam profiles and analyzes it to create statistics, such as the average amount of playtime and sales. Galyonkin’s experience with Steam Spy helped develop the Epic Games Store in 2018, which is now one of Steam’s biggest competitors.
Galyonkin joined Epic Games in February 2016 and has been holding his current position since August 2017. Eight years later, he posted on X/Twitter that he would be leaving the team.
“Today is officially my last day at Epic Games,” the post states, “These eight years have been some of the most exciting in my career, and I am deeply grateful to my former Epic Games colleagues and Tim Sweeney for allowing me to help build Epic 4.0.”
Galyonkin lists some of Epic Games’ greatest achievements while he was with them. From launching the hit battle royale Fortnite and proving free-to-play does not mean pay-to-win, to the $144 million donation Epic Games sent to help Ukraine when Russia first invaded it in 2022, Galyonkin is truly grateful for his time with the company.
Galyonkin also clarifies that his reason for leaving the team is a disagreement with where the company is headed. He writes:
“Now, Epic Games is on its way to transforming from a game developer, engine creator, and publisher into a platform– Epic 5.0. I am not a good fit for this version of Epic; it requires people of a different kind.”
No further updates have been made regarding what “Epic 5.0” could entail. Regardless of his decision to leave Epic, Galyonkin promises to remain in the games industry for the foreseeable future.