Russian Dev Drags Out Work on Mechanics Until He Raises Enough Founds to Flee Russia. Former U.S. Producer Hammered IL-2 Great Battles Devs
The developers of the IL-2 series severely annoyed Jason Williams, who left no stone unturned against 1C Game Studios afterwards.
Former producer of IL-2: Great Battles series strongly rebuked devs at 1C Game. Jason Williams is currently working on his own combat flight simulator Combat Pilot, but in the last week he has published posts dedicated to his former employer, who accused the American dev of lacking a new installment of the series set in the Pacific (or "PTO", which stands for "Pacific Theatre of Operations").
Williams is mainly known for his work on the IL-2 series, but started his career with the Rise of Flight series (based on the IL-2 Sturmovik engine). Later, for almost a decade, he helped in the development of 1CGS series. Indeed, he was not always on good terms with the fans, but he is quite commonly pointed out as the person responsible for the success of the subsequent installments of the series.
Williams left 1C Game Studios at the end of 2022 and since then we haven't heard much about the future of the series. However, in June 2024, the developer announced a new installment. However, instead of returning to the Pacific, as many players wanted, the game is to be set during the Korean War, the early 1950s of the 20th century. Nevertheless, some fans received the news with enthusiasm.
Is the lack of Pacific Williams' fault?
Since revealing the new project, the developer regularly published posts on his blog, in which the project and things related to it were discussed. However, fans noticed that the team mentions somebody called "Jason" from time to time, and it's certainly not in a positive way.
It was no different in the new material, featuring Daniel "Han" Tusiejew, among others, the current producer of the IL-2 series. Although he did not mention the American by name, he stated directly that he had unsuccessfully "begged the previous management, especially the former producer" to change their approach, i.e. focus on the mechanics needed to create a new, modernized version of IL-2 in the Pacific.
Representatives of 1C Game Studios also stated that now, as their competitor is creating their own game about the Pacific, they understand the behavior of this "producer". They clearly suggested that Jason Williams was deliberately sabotaging the studio's initiative and was already thinking about creating competition for the Russian series.
Friendly competitor turned enemy
These statements addressed to the "former producer" were not the first in which 1CGS blamed the American for unpopular decisions and problems with the series. However, already in the first comments under the latest material, some IL-2 fans had doubts about this argument. Almost 2 years have passed since Williams left, and the next game from the studio is by no means returning to the Pacific (although this is supposed to happen during the next project).
The studio's statements greatly irritated Williams, who harshly criticized his former employer on his new project's Discord channel (via Reddit). As he stated, 1CGS had "breached the third agreement" and was therefore no longer bound by any obligations (he most likely means the confidentiality clauses regarding his work at the studio and information that could be harmful to his former employer).
As he put it, "I'd love to be a friendly competitor, but now I'm going to be a hostile one" since his former associates have "declared war" on him and Combat Pilot. They also apparently showed no gratitude for the American's efforts during his time at 1CGS, with Williams openly calling the team a "selfish, corrupt and rude bunch".
Jealous CEO
Williams indicates that the mere fact that a developer with a "20-year head-start" over his new team mentions him is quite curious (because Combat Pilot is unlikely to catch up with the titles of a developer with 20 years of experience). Same as Daniel Tuseyev's mentions of what was going on in the studio, since – according to Williams – the current producer had no insight into decisions regarding financial matters (which probably also included what IL-2's budget was allocated to).
The American claims that he spent years trying to explain the developer's decisions in public posts without pointing to the studio's board members, who made his life difficult during his time at the company. Williams mainly points to Albert Zhiltsov, the CEO of 1C Game Studios. For he was not grateful to Williams for the "triple rescue" of the team because it showed that Zhiltsov was wrong in business matters. So the Russian was supposed to be jealous of the American's successes and, after becoming the head of 1CGS, consistently undermine his position.
Poland instead of Normandy
Williams also denies claims that he was reluctant to see the IL-2 series return to the Pacific. On the contrary, the management and the rest of the studio did not see the point in this (for example, Tuseyev, who recently often declared his "love" for PTO, has repeatedly said that he finds "flying over water" boring). As a result, the studio was not willing to spend money on a new Pacific-themed game because it was deemed to be "too expensive, too difficult, and a bad business decision."
As a result, the American allegedly could not expand his team or create additional content (he gives the lack of "appropriate infantry" in the tank simulation as an example, as he was also supposedly "forced" to work on it). What's more, Williams claims that the players received "Boddenplate and Normandy" instead of "Poland 1944", which "Han" apparently wanted.
Caliber and sabotage in order to escape from Russia
What's more, according to Williams, the money earned by IL-2 were not primarily intended for its development, but for another 1CGS project – an online shooter called Caliber. The studio's money was supposed to "save" that game. Currently, about 1.5 thousand concurrent players are playing it, and the players' comments do not inspire optimism about its future.
The American also mocks the allegations that he was responsible for the failure or lack of certain elements developed for the series. A rather bizarre example is the mechanic of external fuel tanks, which was never added to the game because apparently the developer working on it deliberately prolonged the work in order to… save money to leave Russia.
He also notes that such a feature, even in a very simplified version, was desired by the players, and many similar titles already have such a mechanic. So if it's only his fault that a fuel dumping option for tanks has not been added yet (because supposedly William wanted a "too realistic" solution), then why now, after almost two years, it still hasn't been added in a "simple" version (as claimed by the 1CGS representative)? He believes, the answer is simple: 1C Game Studios is not interested in what the community wants, and the fact that Williams listened to it was supposed to be one of the reasons for him being disliked in the studio.
Williams' difficult character and the ineffective defense of IL-2 devs
Williams wrote significantly more, publishing subsequent entries. Of course, the fans are cautious about the information posted by the creator of Combat Pilot , even if they consider his version of the story more likely.
As mentioned, Jason Williams enjoyed a relatively good reputation among the fans, and some people actually see him as someone who took the IL-2 series to new heights (if not outright salvaged it). Another thing is that some players have witnessed his rather explosive character.
The representatives of 1C Game Studios also responded to these reports, but apparently, they did not win the approval of internet users. The team said it was understandable that Williams was spreading "false information in self-defense." However, neither this nor other arguments (including those regarding the new content, did not drew the fans to 1CGS' side - more people saw it as evidence that the American's words had hit too close to the former employer's comfort, so at least some of the former producer's information may be true.
