Media Molecule co-founder Mark Healey has left the Dreams developer

Mark Healey, co-founder of Little Big Planet developer Media Molecule and director of Dreams, has left the studio after 17 years.

Healey announced the news on his personal Twitter account, confirming that he has left Media Molecule, the studio he helped co-found in 2006 alongside Alex Evans, Kareem Ettouney, and David Smith. "So, after 17 incredible years of co-birthing and building Media Molecule - I have decided it is time for me to fly the nest - set sail and chart a new course - today is my last day at MM," Healey wrote on Twitter.

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Talking about Little Big Planet and Dreams, he continued, "proud to have played my part and lucky to have jammed with some truly brilliant people… but a strong cosmic breeze is pulling me and my pirate heart is awakened, I'm not getting any younger so am going to indulge myself in the winds of my various curiosities for a while and see where they take me." Healey rounded things off by saying he's "off on a pirate adventure! (One that involves making games that is)," but it isn't clear whether that means he'll be working on something pirate related, or if he's just having a bit of fun with his wording.

Healey has a long career in the games industry, having worked at Lionhead Studios (lead by the infamous Peter Molyneux) on titles like Black & White and Fable. There he worked with his future Media Molecule co-founders before the group left Lionhead to form their own studio.

This comes just a week after it was announced that Media Molecule would be ending support for Dreams later this year, which Healey served as a director on. It isn't all bad news for Media Molecule though, as the developer did also announce it is working on a new game, though no specific details were provided on it.