The creative director behind Bioshock 2, Jordan Thomas, has left 2K Marin. He assured GI.biz that his departure will not affect the company's current project, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified; he explained that he moved away from that game in early 2012.
But the really interesting news is why Thomas has left; Thomas intends to make his own indie games with an, as yet, unnamed partner. He explained that he made the decision whilst working on BioShock Infinite with Irrational Games, saying, "It cemented for me that while BioShock spoke to me, it'll never be for me what it is for Ken. I've expanded that legacy here and there, but I could never have created it from scratch. I need to build something that is, to me, what BioShock is to Ken. No matter how long it takes, I have to start now."
Thomas also says that he's already got some ideas. He said that he wanted to take the essence of Thief and Bioshock and then present them in a game "with a radically different focus." Should this initial project be well-received, Thomas said "We might expand the vision and explore further dimensions of the same theme with more content producers. But we'd love to keep it as lean as possible for now, in the hopes that we're not writing checks our asses can't cash. Indie ambition is its greatest strength and its greatest weakness."
In addition to this big name departure, another big name has switched teams. The senior producer of Gears of War: Judgement, Chris Wynn, has left Epic Games for Bioware.
2 years ago Wynn worked for Microsoft before coming to Epic last August. Wynn has also worked for Bioware-owner EA as a development director for 6 years starting from 2003 so this new move isn't a complete career non-sequintor for Wynn.
Wynn joins Bioware in order to work on a new Mass Effect game. Not much is known about this future entry in the series aside from that it's powered by Frostbite 3 and that the project is lead by Executive Producer Casey Hudson.
Wynn isn't the only person to have left Epic Games recently, following President Mike Capps, Design Director Cliff Bleszinski as well as 3 people from Epic's subsidiary People Can Fly (who have now formed The Astronauts). Wynn's departure also follows Director of Production Rod Fergusson who left Epic for Irrational Games.
