So this happened this morning:

I have officially left Obsidian Entertainment to accept a sudden opening as the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts.

— Chris Avellone (@ChrisAvellone) June 9, 2015

The angst this has caused on the RPG Codex may be enjoyable for some of you to follow, but it’s also worth clicking on through to the relevant thread there for another reason: Avellone has given no indications as to what his new venture(s) might be, if in fact he has even gone on to some new project(s). Wild speculation has, as a result, ensued.

For what it’s worth, Avellone did the script treatment for the upcoming Legend of Grimrock live-action series; maybe he has moved on to try his hand at screenwriting. Or maybe he has signed on with inXile Entertainment, to work on whatever their plans are for the Van Buren property/namesake. Maybe he has moved to Maryland and signed on with Bethesda, to help finish up Fallout 4.

Whatever the case, he has parted ways with the studio he helped found and co-owned. It will be interesting to see what this means both for Avellone himself, and for the future of Obsidian as a studio.