The Division’s game director leaves Ubisoft to work on Hitman

The Division’s game director Ryan Barnard has left Ubisoft Massive to join Hitman developer IO Interactive.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Barnard left Massive in February prior to The Division’s release, before starting at IO earlier this month. He was employed by Massive for over 4 years, having previously worked as a game designer at Crytek, EA Mythic and Sony Online Entertainment.

“As we continue to grow our commitment to the Hitman game franchise, it’s with tremendous excitement that we can announce another great addition to the Io-Interactive family,” IO wrote on its website. “Ryan Barnard comes to us after having recently finished his work on Massive Entertainment’s ‘The Division’ and will join the Io-Interactive in the newly created role of Gameplay Director.

“Ryan will focus on expanding on the near-endless possibilities of gameplay that a game like HITMAN possesses. This means heading up the future efforts of three of our very core teams – gameplay, online and world – which will be no small task. 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.”

Hitman’s first episode released last Friday, three days after the launch of The Division.

Source: ioi.dk