Division director Barnard joins Hitman dev IO

Ryan Barnard, the game director of Ubisoft’s most recent smash hit The Division, has departed the company and moved to the makers of Hitman, IO Interactive.

Barnard is taking on the newly-created role of gameplay director, and according to publisher Square Enix will be heading up three of IO’s core teams – gameplay, online and world.

He started his career at Sony Online Entertainment as an associate game designer before holding roles at EA’s new-closed Mythic studio and Crytek. He joined Massive in 2011, rising from associate creative director to game director.

Ryan’s contributions to game design over the years show he’s the ideal person to spearhead the coming efforts,” a statement from Square read.

"We are very happy to add his talent to the pool of great people working at IO.”