Christian T. Petersen, the founder of Fantasy Flight Games and CEO of Asmodee North America, has announced he will be stepping down from the role to focus on "the pursuit of other interests".

Petersen was co-designer on several successful projects during his career, such as A Game of Thrones and Star Wars: Armada. However, arguably his true masterpiece was the highly successful sci-fi strategy game Twilight Imperium, which has recently been released in its fourth edition.

In a statement, Petersen discussed his hope for the future of board games, and reflected on his own time working within the industry;

"After nearly twenty years with FFG and four years with Asmodee, I've seen our market go through tremendous change and amazing growth. Tabletop games have been accepted into the fabric of society and represented in pop-culture more positively than anyone could have hoped for when I joined the industry. I feel fortunate to have experienced this phenomenon first-hand, and to have been part of such an incredible journey."

Indeed, changes within FFG and Asmodee have been apparent.  Last year, Petersen launched Fantasy Flight Interactive, a new development studio created to incorporate digital and traditional board games and earlier this month Asmodee released a Fallout teaser with in conjunction with Bethesda.

Whether this will be a digital, board or card game remains to be seen.  And with Asmodee soon to be purchased by PAI Partners for €1.2 billion, we are sure to see many more changes in the future as the company expands and evolves.

Petersen will leave at the end of 2018 and, according to the man himself, the games released within the next year will "represent the final game products in which I have played a part".  While we can't wait to see what is released during these final months, one thing is for certain - Petersen has built a board games empire which will sorely miss his presence.

What is your favourite memory of a Christian T. Petersen game?