Alistair McFarlane, chief operating officer and director of Facepunch Studios, has left the company. McFarlane said in a message posted on X that July 30 was his last day at the studio, bringing to an end an 11 year career that began with a QA role and led him to become the executive producer on Rust, and often the public face of the studio.
"Rust and Facepunch have consumed a huge part of my life. I’ve loved it, fought for it and given it everything I had," McFarlane wrote. "Leaving has been one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made, but I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved. I've lived my 10 year old dream.
"Rust has one of the best development teams in the industry. For more than a decade, they’ve delivered monthly updates without fail, constantly improving, experimenting and pushing the game forwards. I’m proud of the culture we built and the legacy I leave behind."
McFarlane credited the Rust community for the game's enduring success, saying that it's "now reaching some of the highest numbers in its 13 year history across multiple platforms." He also said he doesn't have anything specific planned for his post-Facepunch era: "The years I dedicated to Rust inevitably took time away from other parts of my life. Now it’s time to give some of that time back into the areas I sacrificed."
I hadn’t planned to share this quite so soon, but you guys are observant.Today was my final day at @FcpnchStds working on @playrust.Nearly thirteen years ago, I discovered a game called Rust. Nearly eleven years ago, I was given the incredible opportunity to work on it by… pic.twitter.com/CpXm5VFChBJuly 30, 2026
As a relatively high-profile presence on Reddit and social media, McFarlane was well liked by the Rust community at large, I think in part because of his outspokenness, and occasional willingness to engage in antics. In January, for instance, he offered to buy the New World MMO from Amazon for $25 million, and didn't seem to be entirely joking; three months later he appeared to suggest that Rust 2 was in development, leaving it to Facepunch boss Gary Newman to eventually shoot down the rumor.
The thread announcing his departure on the PlayRust subreddit is going places:
McFarlane said the support he's received across hundreds of replies to his message has been "overwhelming," and that he's going to try to reply to everyone.
