Julian LeFay, the person sometimes called “the daddy of the Elder Scrolls” and co-founder of the indie developer OnceLost Studio, has handed away after a years-long battle with most cancers. The announcement was made by his studio earlier in the present day on social media. He was 59 years previous.
LeFay was instrumental within the early days of Bethesda’s RPG historical past, again when the likes of Daggerfall was laying the foundations for what was to come back from the studio within the likes of Oblivion and Skyrim.
Within the publish, OnceLost stated that he was “not only a colleague, he was a visionary who essentially formed the gaming trade as we all know it in the present day.”
pic.twitter.com/wLWgd1KFbj— OnceLost Video games (@OnceLostGames) July 23, 2025
LeFay quite a few credit embrace programming lead on Area and Battlespire, mission lead on Daggerfall, in addition to having credit on The Elder Scrolls Redguard and Morrowind.
He additionally labored as a composer and designer on video games akin to Wayne Gretzky Hockey (which got here to NES) and music on the DOS The place’s Wally? sport.
LeFay’s daughter additionally shared a poignant assertion, saying “Thanks for supporting his imaginative and prescient and giving him hope and power till the tip”.
The studio addressed how this tragedy will have an effect on work on its upcoming RPG, The Wayward Realms, and it is fairly emotional studying:
“He touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of gamers worldwide and impressed numerous builders to push inventive boundaries. Julian’s legacy will reside on in each realm, each quest, and each second of marvel that gamers will expertise in The Wayward Realms.”
Our ideas are with LeFay’s family and friends, and he will likely be missed by many within the trade.
