Far Cry 4 creative director ditches Ubisoft, founds Typhoon Studios

The creative director behind titles including Assassin's Creed III and Far Cry 4 has left Ubisoft to found an independent startup, dubbed Typhoon Studios.

Best known for his work on the Assassin's Creed and Far Cry franchises, creative director Alex Hutchinson is leaving Ubisoft after seven years at the company, and, interestingly, at a time when his former employer is believed to be part-way through the development of Far Cry 5, a game which will now have to carry on without Hutchinson's input.

'So! I left Ubisoft after 7 years,' Hutchinson announced via Twitter late last week. 'Extremely proud of all we achieved on Far Cry and Assassins but very excited to build something new.'

Exactly what that 'something new' may be hasn't been detailed, but where Hutchinson will be building it has: Typhoon Studios, an independent developer he has co-founded with former Electronic Arts executive producer Reid Schneider and former Warner Bros. Games Montreal technical director Yassine Riahi.

The company's website is currently spartan in the extreme, save for a jobs page which calls for 'OUTSTANDING talent who want to make waves in the industry,' with a focus on technical artists, environment artists, and gameplay programmers of all levels for the company's inaugural project.

Prior to Ubisoft, Hutchinson worked as a creative director for Electronic Arts' Army of Two: The 40th Day, lead designer for Maxis' Spore and The Sims 2, and worked as the design director for Torus Games for two years.