Dying Light's franchise boss is leaving Techland after 13 years
Tymon Smektała, the man who shaped the Dying Light series across 13 years, is leaving Techland. He joined the Polish studio in 2013 as a game designer on the original Dying Light, rose through production roles on Dying Light 2, and became franchise director in 2022. His exit comes just months after The Beast — the series' highest-rated entry — shipped to strong commercial results.
The peak exit
The Beast scored a 78 on Metacritic and 82 on OpenCritic, per KitGuru, beating both Dying Light 1 (74) and Dying Light 2 (76). It sold 1.5 million copies in its opening week across all platforms, reports Notebookcheck, with roughly 82% of Steam players being returning fans of the series. By any measure, Smektała is leaving on a high.
He didn't explain why. In a statement posted to social media, he thanked Techland's development and publishing teams, praised the community, and said the franchise is "in good hands." No reasons for the departure were given, and no future project or employer was mentioned.
What comes next — and who
Techland has not named a successor or an interim lead for the Dying Light franchise, according to VGC. That's a notable gap. The studio was acquired by Tencent in July 2023 and now employs more than 500 people internationally. Speculation around a Dying Light 3 was already circulating before this news — Smektała's exit leaves that project's creative direction unclear.
The timing mirrors a broader pattern of AAA studio directors stepping away shortly after major releases, a trend visible across the industry over the past two years. Whether this is a planned transition or something more abrupt isn't known.
Techland's reassurance that the franchise is in capable hands isn't backed by any public appointment yet. For fans, the honest answer is: nobody knows who is steering the series from here. PCGamesN notes the studio is currently hiring for senior online design roles, which suggests development is continuing — just without its longtime creative figurehead.