The Division just launched to general critical acclaim and commercial success, and apparently, its director Ryan Barnard sees that as a job well done. He will be leaving Ubisoft and joining IO Interactive, where he will be working as the Gameplay Director on Hitman. This ends his four year stint at Ubisoft Massive- four years possibly all spent developing The Division.
“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 Interactive 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.”
With Hitman all set to be as much of an evolving product as The Division was, no doubt Barnard’s expertise will come in handy.
The Division and Hitman are both available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.