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Heavenly Sword art director Hugues Giboire has returned to Ninja Theory to take up the same position on the studio’s upcoming game Hellblade.
Giboire, who quit the developer in 2006 to join Warframe maker Digital Extremes, replaces the outgoing Stuart Adcock, who has left the firm to purse a career outside of games.
A further departure includes senior character artist Claire Blustin, who is also said to be leaving the industry. The studio is still in the process of finding a replacement in this role.
“It is a common occurrence for the composition of a development team to change throughout a game’s creation,” said Ninja Theory product development manager Dominic Matthews in a post explaining the team changes to fans.
“As a game moves through the stages of production different requirements need to be met by differing groups of developers. In the case of Hellblade, the team was just a handful of artists in the concepting phase. Now in production it has grown to 13 people covering almost all discipline areas.
“As well as adapting to production needs, a team can be forced into change when a member of the team leaves. This can have a big impact on a project and on a team, particularly a team as small as Hellblade’s. This impact is felt in number of ways. Firstly, people who have been at a studio for a long time often hold a lot of knowledge that needs to be transferred to those staying.
“Secondly, when key people leave you lose the creative or technical vision that those people held. Thirdly, it is inevitable that the team’s confidence takes a knock. But with the loss of people also comes new opportunity, fresh ways of thinking and different ideas. Just as the loss of a team member can be a blow, finding an excellent replacement can be a boost.”
