Sergiy Galyonkin has announced via Twitter today that he has resigned from his role as Director of Publishing Strategy at Epic Games. He had been with the company for over eight years.
In his post, Sergiy Galyonkin thanks Epic for the aid they’ve donated in support of Ukraine during Russia’s ongoing invasion. He outlines his role in establishing Epic’s direction (which he refers to as Epic 4.0), but opines that he doesn’t feel he is a fit for their new course (Epic 5.0).
“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 new version of Epic; it requires people of a different kind.”
It’s interesting to note that Sergey Galyonkin was the creator of the Steam Spy service in 2015, which tracks sales through the Steam platform. He then used his experience with tracking the platform to help Epic create the Epic Games Store.
I’m not going to speculate on the deeper meaning of Galyonkin’s departure, as I don’t want to put words in his mouth. I do have to wonder about the timing of this, as just last week Epic Games cut 16% of its workforce as a way of refocusing. It just feels bad, and I would be shocked if the two things weren’t related.
At the very least, Galyonkin goes on to say, “I plan to remain in the gaming industry. I also hope to be more vocal now that I don’t have to worry about the PR department knocking on my DMs.” Considering the valuable insight he shared before joining Epic, I’m personally looking forward to seeing what he dishes out now.
