Josh Sawyer, director of Pillars of Eternity 2, is taking time off from game development.

Sawyer has an illustrious career working on roleplaying classics from Icewind Dale to Fallout: New Vegas. A career designer, he took on the director’s seat with New Vegas - Honest Hearts; followed up with Obsidian’s original work on Pillars of Eternity and Tyranny.

"I’ve said it in a few streams. I’m now in my 19th year in the industry and I’ve been working on Pillars 1 & 2 for about 6 years," Sawyer said on his blog.

"I’m going to be on Deadfire (not the DLCs) until we’re done patching and improving it, but after that I’m taking a break from directing for a while."

While he hasn’t announced a departure from games entirely, Sawyer suggests needing a change of scenery after nearly two decades at the helm of colossal roleplaying projects. It’s likely we’ll see more work from Sawyer in future - likely back in the designer’s chair, not directing from the helm.

“I’ve worked on a lot of party-based fantasy games,” he said. “I’d like to shift focus for my next project, but I need to work on something else, not as a director, before that."

Pillars of Eternity 2 recently launched into a solid No. 4 showing on Steam, proving demand for classic party-based adventuring is still high.