Unreal Engine director Sjoerd De Jong leaves Epic Games after decades of working on Unreal

Longtime Unreal Engine senior director Sjoerd De Jong has left Epic Games after 12 years at the company and roughly 27 years working with Unreal.

The details:

• De Jong announced his departure in a LinkedIn post, writing that after nearly three decades with Unreal and his last 12 years inside Epic’s Unreal Engine team, he has “decided to move forward” and that last week was his final one at the company.
• Known online as "Hourences," De Jong made his name as a teenage level designer on the original Unreal, later working across AAA projects, running his own indie studio Teotl (The Solus Project), and eventually becoming Unreal Engine’s senior director focused on creator and developer experience.
• His role at Epic involved traveling, teaching, and presenting Unreal at conferences and events worldwide; helping studios adopt the engine; and acting as one of its most recognizable public faces during the Unreal Engine 4 and 5 era.
• De Jong did not give a specific reason for leaving or announce a next role, simply saying it is “time to move on” and that he needs to come to terms with how rapidly the games industry keeps shifting.