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 
Leave a reply to Team Fusion provides status update, screenshots – Stormbirds Cancel reply