Alistair McFarlane, Facepunch’s chief operating officer and a director closely associated with Rust, has left the studio. He said he had lived his dream at the company but wanted to focus on other parts of his life; no next role was announced. His departure matters because he was a prominent public figure in the long-running development and community communication around Rust.

McFarlane had worked at Facepunch for more than a decade and helped oversee Rust’s continuing updates. Earlier in 2026, he publicly offered Amazon $25 million for the closing MMO New World, though the proposed deal’s status remains unclear. He also fuelled speculation over a purported Rust 2 Steam page before Facepunch said the listing was fake.