Even just weeks after the game released, Game Director Ryan Barnard has departed his position at Massive Entertainment, working on The Division. In a surprise move, Io-Interactive announced he will instead be joining as Gameplay Director on Hitman.
A veteran of Sony Online, EA Mythic, and even Crytek, Barnard wraps up over five years at Massive. Going forward, he will be leading three separate teams on the new game: gameplay, online and world. “Ryan will focus on expanding on the near-endless possibilities of gameplay that a game like Hitman possesses,” a post on Io-Interactive’s website explains.
“Ryan’s contributions to game design over the years show he’s the ideal person to spearhead the coming efforts. We are very happy to add his talent to the pool of great people working at IOI.”
Both Hitman and The Division launched earlier this month. Despite having some notable balancing issues in its endgame, The Division has topped charts and even set records. A patch released today looking to rectify many of the game’s problems. Likewise, Hitman launched its first episode to mixed results, its release plagued by unstable online servers. Despite that however, the game itself looks to offer the best of the Hitman series, polished and refined for modern gamers. Check out our full review of the first episode.