Civilization V lead designer Jon Shafer has parted ways with Stellaris developer Paradox Interactive six months after joining the studio.

The split has been put down to creative differences, with Paradox's executive vice president of studios Mattias Lilja explaining there's no bad blood between the pair, and that the parting of ways was a mutual decision.

"Jon is an ambitious person with a lot of drive and passion and he has led some good discussions in our teams over the past few months", explained Lilja. "However, during the course of these discussions, it has become clear that we want different things creatively.

"We wish Jon the very best in the next part of his career and would like to thank him for his efforts during his time with us."

It's unclear how (if at all) the mystery project Shafer was working on has been affected, but it seems Paradox wanted to take it in a different direction to the celebrated designer.