Media Molecule Co-Founder David Smith Departs for New Projects

David Smith from Media Molecule, the last remaining co-founder at the studio, announced that he is leaving the company.

The developer shared the news on their social media with a statement from Smith himself. He says he is leaving Media Molecule to dedicate himself to “personal creative projects”.

See the full statement:

20 years ago, I founded Mm with wonderful people. It feels like yesterday that I was working on the prototype that became LittleBigPlanet. Today, I announce that I am leaving Mm to focus on personal creative projects.

Most of Mm’s founders came from Lionhead, a chaotic Petri dish of creativity, and I couldn’t have wished for a better training ground. Heavily influenced by that unconventional creativity, Mm was born from an unrelenting desire to create exciting new experiences we deeply believe in. We love making games, so naturally we wanted to share the joy of creativity with our players. I’m proud to say that in all the games we’ve made and are making, the spirit of creativity and joy permeates them. These years have been an unforgettable experience.

More recently, I’ve felt a growing desire to explore truly wild ideas and create things based purely on personal whims. While I still greatly enjoy the creative dynamic at Mm, there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to work at Mm and pursue personal projects without completely abandoning the quest for that mythical creature called “work-life balance.” So, I’ve made the difficult decision to leave Mm.

I hope to engage with Mm in the future and drop by occasionally. I thoroughly enjoy working with the team. It’s a very different group from 20 years ago, but the positivity and free exchange of ideas remain true to the company’s founding spirit. I’m leaving the studio in excellent hands.

Smith co-founded Media Molecule in January 2006 alongside Mark Healey, Kareem Ettouney, and Alex Evans — all of whom have also left the studio following the release of Dreams.

Studio head Siobhan Reddy has been at the company nearly as long as its founders and will now be the longest-serving team member.