One of HBO’s top executives abruptly resigned Tuesday in response to a decision by the pay-cable network that effectively killed his pet project.

TheWrap.com reports that Chief Technology Officer Otto Berkes quit after the network decided to outsource the technology for its upcoming over-the-top streaming service, killing the in-house project Berkes had been developing.

In his exit memo, obtained by TheWrap, Berkes, who had been in the job since 2012, wrote: “Recently HBO’s management decided to partner with a third party to assist HBO in bringing our OTT service to market in 2015. This is a change in direction from what I planned with HBO and the approach will not utilize my overall capabilities. Therefore, I feel that this is the right time for me to move on from HBO so that I am able to fully pursue my passion building world-class technology teams, products, and businesses.”

Earlier in the day, Fortune broke the news that the streaming service project, internally called “Maui,” was being outsourced. HBO will use technology from MLB Advanced for its standalone streaming service, which is expected to be available by April, Fortune reported.

Fortune also reported that insiders had accused Berkes, an ex-Microsoft employee who had established a large office in Seattle, of building “a Napoleonic empire” within HBO.

Otto Berkes