No Man’s Sky designer, Gareth Bourn, has silently left Hello Games to work on Star Citizen at Foundry 42.
According to the designer’s LinkedIn page, Bourn has been working at the Cloud Imperium Games subsidiary on Squadron 42’s campaign since November but has been rather quiet about it. While it's not uncommon for gaming employees to switch jobs after a project is finished, Bourn has been with Hello Games since 2011.
Bourn's departure hasn't gone unnoticed in the indie community and Line Of Defense designer Derek Smart, took to Twitter to joke that Bourn has left a sinking ship. “Quit quietly from one sinking canoe to a sinking luxury cruise liner", Smart Tweeted. Bourn 'thanked' Smart afterwards.
gee thanks man. Real nice of you. pic.twitter.com/QktxLhZhn6
— Gareth James Bourn (@GjBourn) November 10, 2016
No Man's Sky was released this August but has suffered from various performance issues at launch. Following its release, many players argued that the game didn't live up to its expectations and accused Hello games of false advertising. Even Sony's Shuhei Yoshida stated that Hello Games and creator Sean Murray probably promised too much from the very start. Lawsuits followed and many players opted for refunds. Three months later, the fate of No Man's Sky is uncertain, and Hello Games seems nonexistent since the game's launch.