MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Dear Esther developer Robert Briscoe is leaving the UK to join Valve in Seattle.
The indie said he would be joining the Steam giant on March 20th having successfully applied for a US work visa.
Briscoe said he needed a break from the solitary life of an indie he had been living for the past five years and wanted to join a vibrant development team where he could share his ideas.
He added he still wanted to work on his indie projects and with The Chinese Room in future, but it was time for a change in the meantime.
"Initially I thought I could distract myself with another project, the rationale being that if I had something new to work on, some kind of focus or long-term goal, that this feeling would be less distracting. However, in facing such a task, I’ve also found myself also facing the prospect of again working alone for another five years," said Briscoe.
"So I’ve decided I need a break from the solitary life I’ve been living these past years. I think I need to be around people for a while; A lot of my energy and enthusiasm comes from being in the presence of people, sharing different ideas, methods and techniques, different views, outlooks and inspirations, and mostly by just being out of my comfort zone (which I have very much slipped into).
"Over the past 11 months I’ve been in the process of applying for a US work visa, which was successfully approved a couple of months ago, and consequently, as of March 20th,I will taking a break from indie development and moving to Seattle to spend some time working on cool stuff with a company I’ve long since admired: Valve Software."
For more information on the movers and shakers in the global game industry and available job vacancies, you can sign up to our new #DevelopJobs newsletter that is delivered straight to your email every Friday. Click here to subscribe.
