Valve writer Chet Faliszek has left the company after 12 years.

Faliszek confirmed his departure to GamesIndustry.biz, and said the split was amicable. 

"Nothing exciting or drama filled," Faliszek wrote. "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."

This is the third heavyweight writer from Valve in just over a year, as Faliszek follows after Wolpaw from February and Marc Laidlaw from January 2016. That could spell trouble for first-party games, or leave room for new stars to rise within the organization. 

His writing credits include Left 4 Dead, Portal, and Half-Life 2. On top of his standard writing duties, Faliszek was a VR enthusiast and served as the public face of the company for VR developers as a result. Presumably, with his departure, someone else at Valve will have to carry the torch to continue making the HTC Vive an inviting VR platform for indies.