(Bloomberg) -- Electronic Arts Inc. more than quadrupled the compensation of its design chief this year, making him the highest paid executive in the entire company. But it ultimately didn’t keep him from walking out the door.

Patrick Soderlund, who runs EA Worldwide studios at the video-game giant, has decided to leave to pursue “his next life adventure,” Chief Executive Officer Andrew Wilson told employees in a memo. “After nearly two decades as a pioneer for our company and industry, he will begin a new chapter later this year.”

Electronic Arts announced in June that it had bumped up Soderlund’s reported compensation to $48.4 million, putting him well above the $35.7 million that Wilson makes. As part of the package, Soderlund got $22.9 million for his “key role” in overseeing game development -- a sign of how competitive the market for talent has gotten in the industry.

At the time, the Redwood City, California-based company said its board determined that retaining executives like Soderlund was “critical to the company’s continued strong growth and success.”

Now Electronic Arts will have to push ahead without him. The industry is coping with a shift to mobile gaming, as well as the rise of the Fortnite phenomenon. Fortnite, a hugely popular shooting game produced by rival Epic Games, has threatened to steal away customers from Electronic Arts, which publishes the Battlefield series.

But Soderlund, whose last day is slated for Oct. 30, has helped oversee a pipeline of new games that should continue to benefit the company, Wilson said.

“His fingerprints will be on the experiences that we bring to players well into the future,” he said.

--With assistance from Alicia Ritcey.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nick Turner in Los Angeles at nturner7@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net

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