Though there’s surely many talents folks at Valve responsible for the company’s VR initiatives, over the last several years Chet Faliszek has become a front-facing evangelist and go-to spokesperson for VR at Valve. Now after 12 years with the company, Faliszek has departed.

GamesIndustry.biz confirmed Faliszek’s departure today, which he says was amicable.

“[It was] nothing exciting or drama filled,” he told the publication. “I worked there 12 years, shipped a bunch of great games and some amazing hardware and wanted to change things up. There’s no news on what’s next etc, I will let you know when that happens.”

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Traveling the world to conferences promoting VR and dealing with developers & press, Faliszek was notably the face to introduce the world to the HTC Vive in a video accompanying the launch of the system. With his latest role as a respected evangelist for Valve’s VR initiatives, we hope to see him stay within the VR sector, however he’s done plenty more in his 12 years at Valve, with writing credits on Half-Life 2, Portal, Left 4 Dead series and more.

GamesIndustry.biz notes that Faliszek’s departure comes not long after two other Valve writers.

Working with his long time friend Eric Wolpaw, with whom he ran hugely influential gaming site Old Man Murray, and author Mark Laidlaw, (and later Jay Pinkerton and Ted Kosmatka) Faliszek and his contemporaries defined Valve’s incredible story writing for its formative years.

Faliszek’s departure was preceded by both Wolpaw and Laidlaw, with Wolpaw leaving in February and Laidlaw departing last year. Like them, Faliszek has given no indication of what may come next […]

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Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • Get Schwifty!

    I am pretty sure he must have donated to Nimble America ;)

    • TrollSlayer

      Spot a troll.

      • Get Schwifty!

        There is a distinct difference between “trolling” and cutting a joke that if you perused these forums often you would get :)

        • SnazzyD

          And yet, you fail to realize that Chet was the farthest thing possible from being on the same page as Palmer Luckey – much more of a left-leaning SJW than rational, open-minded conservative. Nice try at condescension, though…better luck next time?

  • Lisa K

    Chet was one of my L4D2 friends, I hope I made him smile with my mods.