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Jon Shafer leaves Paradox over creative differences

Civilisation V designer moves on after just six months with new employer

Jon Shafer has left Paradox six months after coming on board as game director for an unannounced project.

Before that the Civilisation V lead designer Shafer spent six years at Firaxis before leaving to spend two years at Stardock Entertainment. Back in 2013, his own studio Conifer Games raised over $100,000 on Kickstarter to fund empire builder, At the Gates - a project he has still yet to deliver on.

In a statement Mattias Lilja, executive vice president of studios at Paradox, cited creative differences for Shafer's sudden departure.

"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," said Lilja.

"However, during the course of these discussions, it has become clear that we want different things creatively and we have therefore taken the mutual decision that it is best to part ways.

"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."

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Ivy Taylor

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Ivy joined GamesIndustry.biz in 2017 having previously worked as a regional journalist, and a political campaigns manager before that. They are also one of the UK's foremost Sonic the Hedgehog apologists.