Got a few more details on the Brandon James departure from id Software. Paul Jaquays was kind enough to post to the Quake3 messageboard a fair amount of clarification on why no announcement was made and other things. Here is a bit of it:

Why did he go? I don't know. That was his personal decision. But he wasn't fired or anything even close to that. Let's make that clear. Frankly, we were all pretty stunned by both his decision to leave and the timing of the decision. I didn't find out until the following Monday. Brandon has a lot of varied talents and I wish him well in whatever he chooses to do in the future. How will this affect Quake 3? Brandon James's incomplete maps and other responsibilities will be divided up between us. It does mean a bigger work load for the rest of us, but that's what we get paid to do.

Check out the Quake3 messageboard for the full deal. Here is the original post I made: As many of you guys probably heard a few days ago Brandon James was removed from the id Software BIO page and the rumors began to fly. Well it's official that Brandon "Killme" James has left id Software as a level designer. You can check this little Q&A over at the Oxygen Tank out.

Why did I leave id Software? I'm not going to answer that. However, I will say that I really needed time to get by myself, to pick up the hobbies (music, gaming, etc) that I had put aside for far too long. As for any other reasons, I will not talk about or answer those now or in the future