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Julian LeFay

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Julian LeFay
LeFay seated on a train
LeFay in 2023
Born
Benni Jensen

(1965-10-30)30 October 1965
Denmark
Died22 July 2025(2025-07-22) (aged 59)
Occupations
  • Programmer
  • game designer
  • musician
Known forThe Elder Scrolls series

Julian LeFay (born Benni Jensen; 30 October 1965 – 22 July 2025) was a Danish programmer, video game designer and musician, best known for his work on The Elder Scrolls: Arena, The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, and An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire.

Early life

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LeFay was born Benni Jensen[1] on 30 October 1965 in Denmark.[2][3] Before he began programming, he played in the Danish electro-pop band Russia Heat.[4][2]: 14:10 

Career

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Early in his career, LeFay worked on PC, Amiga and NES projects, performing programming tasks and composing music for games such as Where's Waldo?[5] and Sword of Sodan.[6]

Referred to as the "Father of The Elder Scrolls", LeFay joined Bethesda Softworks shortly after the company's creation in 1987.[7] He held the role of Chief Engineer and led the company through the creation of some of its seminal games, such as The Terminator 2029,[8] Arena, Daggerfall and Battlespire.[9][10] The Elder Scrolls deity Julianos is based on Julian.[11] He worked briefly on The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind as a contractor after quitting Bethesda in 1998.[2] He also briefly worked at Sega,[2] and was involved in the production of Skullgirls.[2]: 3:05:30 

In 2019, LeFay co-founded the independent game studio OnceLost Games with former Bethesda developers Ted Peterson and Vijay Lakshman, and announced they would be working on a new open world role-playing game called The Wayward Realms, which would serve as a spiritual successor to Daggerfall.[12] Although initially offered $8 million by a major publisher, the team rejected the offer as they believed they could not make the game for less than $12 million.[13] The Wayward Realms was first unveiled in 2021.[14] On 30 May 2024, OnceLost Games launched a Kickstarter campaign with a funding goal of $500,000 to support one year of development on an early access build, intended to be used in securing additional publisher support.[15] The campaign was successfully funded.[16]

In January 2021, LeFay became the chief technology officer of Licorice, where he was responsible for building the company's servers and technical infrastructure.[17] He was previously the vice president of research and development at Blockbuster and worked on information retrieval and natural language parsing. While working at Blockbuster, LeFay learned Ancient Greek and developed a parser for the language.[2]: 2:26:10 

Illness and death

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On 17 July 2025, OnceLost Games announced that LeFay had cancer which had become terminal, causing him to step away from the company and development of The Wayward Realms.[7][18][19] He died on 22 July 2025, aged 59.[20][21] Ted Peterson wrote that LeFay chose to "live his final moments surrounded by his loved ones," noting that "even during his illness, he continued to share his vision with our team, mentor our developers, and ensure that every aspect of the game reflected his commitment to creating something truly extraordinary."[11] Todd Howard, executive producer for Bethesda, said that LeFay "was the driving force in the creation of The Elder Scrolls and the foundations of Bethesda as a game studio", stating that "simply put, without Julian, we would not be here today".[22]

Games

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List of video games worked on by Julian LeFay
Year Title Role(s) Ref.
1988 Sword of Sodan Music [6]
1988 Wayne Gretzky Hockey Game design, coding, music [23]
1989 Dragon's Lair Coding (DOS) [23]
1991 Where's Waldo? Music [5]
1991 The Terminator Designer [24]
1992 The Terminator 2029 Chief programmer [25]
1994 The Elder Scrolls: Arena Lead programmer [19]
1996 The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall Project leader and programmer [26]
1997 An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire Lead programmer and designer [27]
2002 The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Contractor [28]
TBA The Wayward Realms Technical producer [7]

References

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  1. ^ Ramsay, Morgan (2012). Gamers at Work: Stories Behind the Games People Play. New York: Apress. p. 284. ISBN 978-1-4302-3351-0. Retrieved 23 July 2025 – via the Internet Archive.
  2. ^ a b c d e f [Indigo Gaming] (31 October 2017). A Conversation with the Father of the Elder Scrolls Julian Jensen (aka Julian LeFay) (Video). Indigo Gaming. Retrieved 31 October 2017 – via YouTube.
  3. ^ [PC Games] (1996). "Julian LeFay im Gespräch" [Julian LeFay in Conversation] (Interview). PC Games (in German). No. 11. Germany: Computec. ISSN 0947-7810. Retrieved 17 July 2025 – via the Internet Archive.
  4. ^ "Russia Heat Biografi". Substans (in Danish). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
  5. ^ a b [THQ] (1991). "Where's Waldo? (NES)". THQ. Retrieved 17 July 2025 – via the Internet Archive.
  6. ^ a b Katz, Arnie (April 1989). "Sword of Sodan". Amiga User. pp. 39–40. Retrieved 17 July 2025 – via the Internet Archive.
  7. ^ a b c Van Allen, Eric (17 July 2025). "Julian LeFay, 'Father of The Elder Scrolls,' Steps Back From Game Development Due To Cancer". IGN. Archived from the original on 19 July 2025. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
  8. ^ Goble, Gordon (June 1993). "Terminator Emulation Mode". Computer Gaming World. United States: Ziff Davis. p. 115. Retrieved 20 July 2021 – via the Internet Archive.
  9. ^ Saltzman, Mark (29 January 1998). "'Battlespire' not up to the challenge". The Toronto Star. Ontario: Torstar. Retrieved 17 July 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ [Bethesda Softworks] (1997). "Julian LeFay". Bethesda Softworks. Archived from the original on 5 June 1997. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  11. ^ a b van der Velde, Issy (23 July 2025). ""Father of The Elder Scrolls" Julian LeFay has passed away, and his team say his "legacy will live on in every realm, every quest, and every moment of wonder" in the upcoming fantasy RPG The Wayward Realms". GamesRadar+. United Kingdom: Future plc. Archived from the original on 23 July 2025. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
  12. ^ Kane, Alex James (27 September 2019). "'Daggerfall' Designer Ted Peterson On His New RPG Studio, OnceLost Games". Forbes. Archived from the original on 4 June 2024. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  13. ^ [Indigo Gaming] (6 October 2023). "How I ALMOST Made the Game of My Dreams". Medium. Archived from the original on 1 June 2025. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  14. ^ Capel, Chris J. (2 August 2021). "The Wayward Realms is an Elder Scrolls-like from the creators of Elder Scrolls". PCGamesN. United Kingdom: NetworkN. Archived from the original on 19 July 2024. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
  15. ^ [Wayward Realms]. "The Wayward Realms is live on Kickstarter.com". The Wayward Realms. Archived from the original on 6 April 2025. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  16. ^ Beistad, L. B. (17 September 2024). "Wayward Realms' Approach to Stealth Should be a Trailblazer For Fantasy RPGs". Game Rant. Valnet. Archived from the original on 19 June 2025. Retrieved 19 July 2025.
  17. ^ Glocker, Samantha (19 January 2021). "Julian LeFay (Jensen) appointed as Licorice CTO". Licorice. Archived from the original on 22 April 2025. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  18. ^ Wales, Matt (18 July 2025). "Bethesda veteran Julian LeFay, 'father of The Elder Scrolls', departs game development due to cancer". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 20 July 2025. Retrieved 21 July 2025.
  19. ^ a b Warren, Mark (17 July 2025). "Former Elder Scrolls developer Julian Lefay steps away from his Daggerfall-esque The Wayward Realms as cancer worsens". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on 17 July 2025. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
  20. ^ Phillips, Tom (23 July 2025). "Julian LeFay, 'Father of The Elder Scrolls,' Has Died Aged 59, a Week After Stepping Back From Game Development Due to Cancer". IGN. Archived from the original on 23 July 2025. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
  21. ^ Starkey, Adam (23 July 2025). "The Elder Scrolls creator Julian LeFay dies following battle with cancer". Metro. United Kingdom: DMG Media. Archived from the original on 23 July 2025. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
  22. ^ Harris, Iain (23 July 2025). "Todd Howard joins fans mourning "the driving force in the creation of The Elder Scrolls and the foundations of Bethesda as a game studio," Julian LeFay: "Without Julian, we would not be here today"". GamesRadar. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
  23. ^ a b Makuch, Eddie (17 July 2025). ""Father Of Elder Scrolls" Stepping Away From Industry Due To Ailing Health". GameSpot. Fandom. Archived from the original on 20 July 2025. Retrieved 21 July 2025.
  24. ^ Threadgill, Todd (November 1991). "The Terminator: Robot Rampage in L.A." Computer Gaming World. No. 88. United States: Russell Sipe. pp. 118–119. Retrieved 18 July 2025 – via the Internet Archive.
  25. ^ Goble, Gordon (June 1993). "Terminator Emulation Mode". Computer Gaming World. United States: Ziff Davis. p. 115. Retrieved 18 July 2025 – via the Internet Archive.
  26. ^ [Bethesda Softworks] (1996). "Credits". Daggerfall User's Guide. Bethesda Softworks. Retrieved 17 July 2025 – via the Internet Archive.
  27. ^ [Bethesda Softworks] (1997). "Credits". An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire User's Guide. Bethesda Softworks. p. 5. Retrieved 17 July 2025 – via the Internet Archive.
  28. ^ Axon, Samuel (23 July 2025). "Julian LeFay, "the father of The Elder Scrolls," has died at 59". Ars Technica. Retrieved 23 July 2025.

Further reading

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Articles

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Audio and video

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