If you’ve read this blog in any amount over the last several years, you’ll know the name Jason Williams. Serving as the Executive Producer for the IL-2 series through the release of multiple titles, Jason has been a near constant presence to represent the series. Today, he confirmed that he has left the 1C Game Studios team.
A farewell message
In a post made to the 1C Game Studios forums earlier today, Jason revealed a video explaining his recent absence from the forums and confirming that he is parting ways with 1C Game Studios.
Jason has been involved with the IL-2 and Rise of Flight franchises for over a decade. Among his credits was a turnaround of the IL-2 series in the early days with the dropping of a unpopular unlock system in favour of a more traditional set of combat flight simulator goals.
Jason’s tenure was not without some controversy but then no flight sim producer is immune to various critiques from the community. Whatever your view, Jason has been Executive Producer during some of IL-2’s greatest heights with the release of several popular titles and the growing interest in the series.
As for myself personally, I had the pleasure to meet him in-person during Flight Sim Expo 2019 in Orlando Florida. I also had the pleasure to work with him and some of the 1CGS team to put together several trailers for the series.
Jason has been an Executive Producer but he has also always struck me as a fan of this genre first. So for me, I want to express my thanks for helping to making this series happen. A salute to Jason and all of his hard work over the years!
What now?
The only constant, as they say, is change and… the times they are a-changin’. For weeks there was plenty of speculation from within the community (including this 16 pager on the official forums) on where Jason was. This all coming up following the release of IL-2: Battle of Normandy and how we hadn’t heard much from him. The speculation started up fairly quickly after.
Now that we know that both Jason, the Executive Producer, and Andrey Solomykin, the Lead Engineer, have departed the 1C Games Studios team there is undoubtedly some anxiety within the community. I share that feeling that things are changing and that there’s great uncertainty on where things are going to go next.
I will avoid dragging the current geopolitical reality too much into this (there are plenty of outlets to cover those) but I also can’t ignore that there is great uncertainty in a lot of things right now. They undoubtedly have ripple effects across a huge range including our hobby.
What we do know is that the 1CGS team are continuing on. Just last week there was mention that the next project has been chosen and that work is underway to gather the necessary documents and materials to get the planning process underway. I remain cautiously optimistic that we’ll be seeing new and exciting developments for this series for some time to come.
In the back of my mind there is also the thought that at some point the Great Battles Series will wind down and something new will start up. When those moments come to pass, I hope it goes out on a strong note and with an eye to maintaining its longevity for a long time to come.
All we can do now is wait for the dawn.
Stormbirds 
Not sure what to make of this news – other than it seems more of a bad omen than a good one, i.e. it has the earmarks of major or at least some dissension in the ranks
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He was imo a little to strict with what was allowable. No pacific because not enough info on Japanese side (I’d happily take a best guesstimate ki-61 over nothing)
Russians were quite interested in making Korea
So I’m the end this might be positive. Also on the European dev side they said andrej didn’t have much to do programming wise with battle of Normandy so I think and hope we get more il2 battle of x
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I don’t think that was Jason – although he was the guy up front so he gets to shoulder the blame.
He wanted, more than anything, to make the Pacific.
I’m not too sure how much work was done by the engineering team. Anytime you lose someone with that much knowledge, it’s a loss.
What the long term consequences are, and her remains to be seen. Maybe few.
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I had a feeling something was up. Honestly, as a 30 year flight simmer , I think what he’s done is remarkable. Of all the current sim titles, the GB series is by far the most stable and reliable.
I’m curious if he’s staying within the industry, if so he will be an asset wherever he goes.
Maybe I’m wrong but I get the feeling that it could be RIP GB series.
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One of my conversations with Jason was he could be very negative about the Pacific, Shamrock and I stand by this. He said it cant work or something, so when I suggested he took ‘cant’ out of his vocabulary, he went ballistic with me, he went really nasty, we all know he has an ego, but my experience was especially negative with him … still banned on those forums, couldn’t care less to be honest.
However I mean no ill will to the guy, he loves to play his own trumpet of course, but he has had some success. so fair play I suppose, hold no ill will to the guy, we just never got on.
The big question is, where do we go from here?
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Based banned enjoyer
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I remember asking why there’s no manual for a complex sim game which is 8 years old and got unpleasant answer from him which wasn’t answer at all.
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Hmmm… outlook seems a little ‘doomy’ from people on the project?
I’d be inclined to wait until the fat lady sings myself. It COULD be good news?
Either way, Master Williams has done an awful lot in making this without a doubt my go-to source for entertainment, together with the team of course. For that I will be grateful for as long as I do anything like this… Nice one!
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I MEANT to say “doomy fromm people ABOUT the project”!
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But without the bad spelling!!
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Jason Williams GBSDana White UFC.
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EDIT:
Jason Williams GBS=Dana White UFC.
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I had to look that up, and I’m still none the wiser.
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Both were able to grow a successful business with a product, what seemed not to have a future. Both were the “the face” of the company…and both lack skills interacting with people.
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@Redwing. Thanks. Agreed about the lack of people skills from Jason, he was never my cup of tea but his contribution to Il-2 GB was immense. His going makes no difference to me at the moment though, as a Russian company gets no more of my money for the foreseeable future.
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@216TH_CAT.
I share you feelings and would really like to know who owns the company what is producing the game now, not gonna spend a dime more if it’s going to russia…
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Comment in the IL2 forum indicated Jason owns 777 (studio, LLC, company?…) and that they had a JV with 1C to develop/distro IL2. Heard rumors about source code ownership too. Jason said he was leaving for parts unknown, but didn’t say he was gone from flight sims. Any possibility we see a new development effort on the horizon? Shamrock15 or others got any intel?
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Probably way too early to speculate on that. I wouldn’t be too surprised if he did pop-up at some point though!
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As long as he doesn’t do a Ilya Shevchenko 🙂
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For now I am done with BoX. It is difficult to envisage how this could have been handled in a less competent way. Draw your own conclusions about the new management and hopes for the future. They knew Jason had left but rather than even tell a white lie / delaying action about having to wait, they did – and still – say nothing. Gold star for destroying customer confidence and loyalty.
Adding to this was my first ban – ever on an internet forum – for saying the following:
1. It might be diplomatic to answer the 16 page thread enquiring as to Jason’s whereabouts
2. A DD of aircraft for which you require a pre-order payment is not best served by a blanket of silence (as most of us know, future investment is based upon current confidence in performance)
3. If there has been a striking development then some indication of situation, planning etc. would be a very good idea about now (see point 1.)
Ban Hammer.
Well done, 1C studio, I am now really inclined to give you any of my cash.
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IL-2 Website just went … OFFLINE !!!
OMG !???
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Sorry, only temporarily !
Seen what may be happening I … well …
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I don’t think we’re anywhere close to anything like the website going down or the series stopping suddenly.
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Sorry Shamrockonfive. AFAIK the wenbsite being unavailable, even for a while, did not happen a lot. I am glad ‘panicking’ is not necessary 🙂
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Seems like the end of an era to see Jason go but is it only me scratching my head over the lack of any offical statement from 1CGS? Or have I missed something?
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About his departure? I think this is meant to be the official notice.
I’m sure there will be a transition and some sort of follow up announcement. But I don’t expect it will dwell on the past when it does go out.
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As some have said, this mess really needs to be cleared up ASAP for the good of the community and hobby.
My guess is, Jason, for whatever reason couldn’t contain himself any longer and pre empted any official announcement by official company, possibly he’s burned his bridges? I imagine he would be difficult to get on with in real life?
Jason has quite an ego and myself and others have seen some of his incredible meltdowns over the years, one was on SimHQ and was quite foul with language.
I totally get folk respect him though and that’s fair enough, we all see things differently and follow differently.
I couldn’t get on with the guy, just dynamic opposing personality’s I suppose, but as I said before, he did some great work, fair play to him.
I think since the bubble has burst, now would be a good time for 1CGS to give their side of the story too and perhaps let their many loyal purchasing fans know where we go from here.
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So I know a little about what’s going on with this. This message was planned so, no, no bridges were burned with this. The new community manager even mentioned in a post that a message was forthcoming.
I also don’t think you’ll hear much from 1CGS on their side of the story. Most companies, wisely, do not want to air this sort of thing out in public. What I think you will hear from them on is their future plans and I would expect that will be forthcoming pretty soon.
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Please tell us if you know my friend, why the secrecy?
All this undercover ‘I know something but not telling yet’, if you have information my friend, please let the community now, cloak and dagger stuff seems exciting and is very dramatic, but most would rather know the deal without all the build up.
Lots of us might have fingers on the trigger for FB purchases but with this news and Jason’s outburst are afraid to buy.
We need to know what you know mate, its a fair request, no more secrets please.
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I don’t know any secrets. I’m not sure what you’re suggesting here.
On occasion people tell me things in confidence and I won’t repeat them until they become public. Jason’s message is public and it was a planned message. That’s what I know. There’s no cloak and dagger.
Now let’s talk about purchases. What are you planning to purchase and what specific concern do you have about that purchase?
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