Jason Killingsworth, creative director of Riot Games, has announced that after "six wonderful years" at the studio, he is leaving to focus his efforts on a new and very different kind of venture: an independent book called Tune & Fairweather publishing company.

As creative director of Riot, Killingsworth had a sort of "big picture" role at the studio, focused on players in the European Union: he did not design new characters or plot in-game events, but, for example producing the "ARAM-arama" in-game event for EU players in 2018, bringing the earworm hit "Pop/Stars" to Beat Saber, and taking a leading role in bringing the 10th anniversary of "Riot Pls" to European fans.

"Managing creative teams, finding freelance vendors and agency partners, designing live stream broadcasts, scripting teaser spots, directing voice talent, branding internal initiatives, producing social media video assets and producing in-game events, and writing communications and web content for the league esports scene," he writes in his LinkedIn bio. Given all of this, his departure is likely to leave a large void at Riot.

Tune & Fairweather actually has its roots in You Died: The Dark Souls Companion, co-authored by former Kotaku UK editors Keza MacDonald and Killingsworth in 2016. (Killingsworth is a former journalist who spent three years at Edge and OPM, both owned by Future, the parent company of PC Gamer.) When the book was completed, they approached the publisher with the idea of a deluxe hardcover edition, which the publisher turned down.

"Hardcover books are expensive to produce and they had reasonable doubts about their commercial viability. We eventually dropped that issue and released it in paperback," Killingsworth explained in a 2019 Kickstarter for its hardcover edition. The crowdfunding campaign also introduced "Tune & Fair Weather," which he had been working on in his spare time.

"I have always loved the intimacy of print, the simple joy of holding a physical artifact that marries visual design with the written word," he wrote. I spent the first decade of my career in the magazine industry, first working for Paste and later for Edge and Official PlayStation Magazine UK. I enjoyed the puzzle of figuring out how design and copy fit together. The feel you get when you pick up a magazine, the sense that you've created something lasting, is something you don't get from just looking at your work scrolling through a web browser."

The Kickstarter campaign was a huge success, raising €50,000 (about $58,000), far more than double its goal.

"After six amazing years at Riot Games, I'm leaving to take another shot in the universe by starting my own publishing company, Tune & Fairweather, and I couldn't be more grateful for the investment Riot has made in my personal career development! " he wrote in a message posted on LinkedIn.

"Working at Riot is a dream job and I will always proudly wear this career chapter on my resume.

The project that started this endeavor, You Died: The Dark Souls Companion Gravelord Servant Edition, is currently available for pre-order and costs a hefty $618. A lower-priced version is also available.