Lance Stites, the executive vice president of the NCsoft West Game Production Studio, has written a letter to the community to announce his departure from the company. "I’ll be taking a bit of a sabbatical, and spending time with my family touring some of America’s National Parks," he said.

Stites also outlines some of the other staffing changes that recently occurred at NCsoft. Aion Producer Chris "Kinslon" Hager left NCsoft several weeks ago, and Sean Neil has been promoted to fill the position.

In similar news, Lineage II Producer Chris "Cabel" Mahnken recently left the team to pursue other opportunities. Marissa "Moxie" McWaters was just promoted to the producer role, and we had the chance to speak with her at PAX East about the Goddess of Destruction tech demo.

For more details, you can read Stites' full letter after the jump.

A Letter from Lance Stites

Hello to all,

I wanted to address the community to share some changes, and interesting news. It is with mixed emotions that I share the news of my departure. I’ve been with NCsoft for 8 or so of the last ten years, and have considered it my home; however, I’ve decided that it’s time that I hand the reins over. I’ll be taking a bit of a sabbatical, and spending time with my family touring some of America’s National Parks.

Looking forward, NCsoft has some great initiatives in the works. As you’re probably aware, the team is busy working on the localization, creative writing, and voice over work to prepare for the Aion: Empyrean Calling (2.5) update. In addition to this update, the community is focused on bringing you smaller “interest events.” On the strategic level, the company as a whole is looking further out to the next major update as the team works to deliver the “vision” of Aion that was shared last year.

Aion Producer Chris “Kinslon” Hager left NCsoft several weeks ago to explore other opportunities—I’m grateful to have had the chance to work with him and I wish him the very best. To shepherd the product through the game’s updates and ongoing live service, I’m thrilled to share the news that Sean Neil has been promoted to NCsoft West’s Aion Producer. Sean has been on the team supporting Aion since the beginning, initially working on the Localization team and then joining the Aion team as an Associate Producer last year. Sean displays a passion coupled with a healthy dose of common sense that’ll ensure a great performance in this role. Sean has a max level Asmo Asasssin, and dabbles with other alts. (If you knew Sean, you could believe the Asmodian part, but he strikes me as much more of a Gladiator—if you’re at the bus stop late at night, he’s a good guy to have waiting with you.)

As for Lineage II, we also have some team news: please join me in congratulating Marissa McWaters on her promotion to Lineage II Producer. As you may know, the High Five update was released last month—this was a positive update because it was simply a culmination of player requests all wrapped up to meet the player’s needs and desires. We’ll have more to share soon about the exciting things coming to the game. Later this year we’ll be releasing another major update that will offer some of the most significant changes Lineage II has seen during its life cycle.

Finally, the Lineage team is really hitting its stride and delivering specific content as requested from the player base in addition to frequent expansions. The recent events have been very popular and it’s great to see a climbing player base as the word gets out about the positive changes. We’re closing in on the 10th Anniversary of the product and it’s been a great experience to be a part of an MMO that’s seen such a long life.

NCsoft has a few other things in the works as well, including ArenaNet’s highly anticipated Guild Wars 2 which has already been touted as the “next big thing,” has been recognized for its excellence, including gamescom’s Best Online Game and PAX’s Best of Show last year. The lineup of products coming soon, and in development is incredible. It’s a great time to be an NCsoft fan. I know I always will be…see ya’ll in-game!

Best regards,
Lance Stites