Landon Montgomery, co-founder of Gearbox Software, has passed away. The news was confirmed by Gearbox Software's official Twitter account on Wednesday.

"We are heartbroken to learn that one of our co-founders, Landon Montgomery, passed away today. In the early days, Landon played a major role in determining the path we would take. We will always be grateful and remember him for the part he played in our lives. Our thoughts, support, and love are with those closest to him during this difficult time."

Montgomery worked for Bethesda Softworks as an artist and level designer on The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard and An Elder Scrolls Adventure. He later co-founded Gearbox Software in 1999. He then worked on some of the most celebrated game series of the past decade, including "Half-Life," "Brothers in Arms," "Halo: Combat Evolved," and "Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3," before leaving the studio in 2010. However, Montgomery continued to be involved in gaming, serving as esports program director at marketing firm The Richards Group and then as general manager at MMO studio Daybreak Game Company. in late 2019, he took a position at Nvidia as where he took on the role of producer.

Gearbox co-founder Randy Pitchford paid tribute to Montgomery in a long and heartfelt Twitter thread:

In 2015, Montgomery wrote a blog post on clickherelabs.com about the birth and early days of Gearbox He shared his story. A project he was working on at a small studio called Rebel Boat Rocker was cancelled, resulting in the company's dissolution.

"A week after I closed Rebel Boat Rocker, I got a call from Gabe Newell, the founder and president of Valve Software. Several of us who were still in Dallas and wondering what to do next had applied to Valve, so it wasn't a total surprise to get a call from them. But a call from Gabe? That was a little odd," he writes. After a few "short and sweet" questions, Newell cut to the chase and asked if I would be interested in doing an expansion of Half-Life.

"Needless to say, Randy Pitchford, Brian Martell, Steven Barr, Rob Hironimus, and I decided to stay and Gearbox Software was born on Valentine's Day 1999."

Montgomery's cause of death has not been disclosed.