Julian LeFay, greatest often known as Bethesda Softworks’ chief engineer for pioneer video games like The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfallhanded away final night time on the age of 59.
OnceLost Video games, a studio led by LeFay and former Bethesda Softworks designer and author Ted Peterson, shared the information in an announcement by way of X (previously Twitter). “It’s with profound disappointment and heavy hearts that we inform our group of the passing of Julian LeFay, our beloved technical director and co-founder of OnceLost Video games,” the workforce wrote.
LeFay and Peterson began the studio again in 2019, with its first venture being an open-world RPG known as The Wayward Realms serving as a non secular successor to Daggerfall. The workforce ran a Kickstarter marketing campaign again in 2024, which was totally funded throughout its runtime. OnceLost has been engaged on an Early Entry construct since.
“At OnceLost Video games, Julian was one of many masterminds behind The Wayward Realmsbringing a long time of experience and an unwavering dedication to pushing the boundaries of what RPGs might obtain,” the assertion continues. “His technical brilliance, inventive imaginative and prescient, and dedication to participant company have been the driving forces behind our bold venture.”
Final week, the workforce shared a video asserting that LeFay had been courageously battling most cancers for a while now. His medical doctors knowledgeable his colleagues and household that his time with them was restricted, they usually have been getting ready to say goodbye to, of their phrases, “a real legend of the business.” He then stepped away from the studio to reside his last moments surrounded by his family members.
“With out Julian, we’d not be right here as we speak”
Coloquially known as the “Father of the Elder Scrolls,” LeFay held the position of chief engineer at Bethesda Softworks all through the manufacturing of not simply Daggerfallbut in addition The Elder Scrolls: Enviornment and An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire. After quitting Bethesda in 1998, he labored briefly on The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind as a contractor. LeFay additionally had a brief stint at Sega and lent a hand throughout the manufacturing of the preventing recreation Skullgirls. Outdoors of video games, LeFay joined Licorice in 2021performing as chief know-how officer of the skilled providers automation firm.
Bethesda Recreation Studios additionally launched an announcement on LeFay’s passing, calling him “the driving drive” within the creation of The Elder Scrolls and the foundations of Bethesda Softworks.
“Merely put, with out Julian, we’d not be right here as we speak. For those who had the chance to work with Julian, you have been blessed to know a one-of-a-kind drive of nature, who pushed everybody to create one thing particular.”
LeFay’s daughter Shae Jensen additionally shared a message on behalf of his household on the studio’s Kickstarter web page. In it, they describe how a lot the group’s help round The Wayward Realms meant to him. The message additionally encourages individuals who need to present their love for him to proceed supporting the workforce, and in the event that they see match, to make a donation to any charities supporting the Ukrainian warfare efforts, which LeFay cared deeply about in his last years. “He would relaxation effectively figuring out that his passing will contribute to the causes he felt so strongly about,” reads the message.
As for OnceLost, the workforce stated that LeFay’s imaginative and prescient for The Wayward Realms is “deeply embedded in each side of our improvement workforce,” with technical frameworks, design philosophies, and path being “rigorously documented” and shared with colleagues. As such, the workforce is dedicated to bringing that imaginative and prescient to fruition.
“Ted Peterson, Eric Heberling, and our total improvement workforce stays totally devoted to this mission,” the assertion reads. “We’ll proceed to share improvement updates, preserve our transparency with the group, and make sure that The Wayward Realms turns into the groundbreaking expertise Julian knew it could possibly be.”
