This Monday, after the most introspective conference of my life, I left my job at thatgamecompany. I’ve chosen to become an independent game developer.

My friends, family, and even the entirety of TGC have been nothing but kind and supportive. I can’t reiterate enough how lucky I am to be surrounded by a loving network of people who believe in me and what I’m capable of. I am eternally grateful.

But there are questions. Everyone has questions. The main question I’ve been getting lately is “Why?”

“Why would you leave one of the indie-est companies on the planet… to go indie?”

To be completely clear, this was one of the most difficult choices I’ve made in my short life. I joined thatgamecompany immediately after graduating college and then worked there for a total of ten months. We all grew incredibly close over those months, so leaving the job felt like I was leaving a family.

In addition to the emotional baggage, the New Game they’re making isn’t just something that you can casually abandon. Obviously I can’t divulge any details about it, but… It’s going to be huge. And I don’t mean it’s going to be a long sprawling game, I mean it’s going to be an IMPORTANT game. I genuinely believe it’s going to change the industry in a really positive way.

All of this just made the decision harder, but the fact of the matter is that I was unhappy. I started out loving my job, but as the months wore on and progress continued at a snail’s pace, I started getting more and more frustrated.

Every so often I would have a new idea for a project, but I’d have to brush it under the rug to focus on work. It was killing me to know that I was completely unable to pursue any of those ideas, and that they just had to sit there and rot while The Game inched along.

The Game is going to be incredible, but it is moving slowly. There are YEARS remaining on the project and, quite frankly, those are years I don’t want to give up for a game that isn’t truly mine.

I’ve decided to be independent because at this point in my life I want to follow whims. I want to pick my own dreams. I want to work on projects without having any idea if they’re going to succeed. I want to experiment and ramble and gamejam and make mistakes. I want to work with amazing friends across the world. I want to travel across the world and make new friends.

Guys, I’m going to be a little selfish now. I’m going to do my own thing. I hope that’s okay.