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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Ninja Theory co-founder Tameem Antoniades has left the company.

On a recent visit to the Cambridge, UK-based studio for a Hellblade 2 preview, Polygon noted that there was no sign or mention of Antoniades, who was formerly the company’s chief creative director.

A spokesperson for Xbox, which owns the studio, later confirmed to the site that Antoniades was no longer with the developer.

While he worked on numerous games at Ninja Theory, Antoniades notably served as writer-director on Heavenly Sword, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, DmC: Devil May Cry and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice.

He was involved in the early stages of Hellblade 2, but the game is now being led by three creative leads: environment art director Dan Attwell, visual effects director Mark Slater-Tunstill, and audio director David Garcia.

Microsoft and Ninja Theory announced Hellblade 2 alongside the Xbox Series X console in 2019.

Ninja Theory co-founder Tameem Antoniades has left the studio | VGC

The Hellblade writer-director is no longer with the Xbox developer…

www.videogameschronicle.com

 

[sigmaZ]

Bad sign. He was probably ashamed of the game they made.

 

[T-0800]

Stuff like this happens all the time so it isn't that unusual.

On the other hand,,,,,

 

[Heisenberg007]

Have fun for 6+ years making a small game, traveling a cool continent to take photos, and then bail

 

[3liteDragon]

Very good sign as HB2 comes out next month.

 

[YuLY]

The schizo walking sim from next month is gonna come and go like it never happened. Overhyped trash, how MS could let this develop for 6years it is unreal. Such a shame, this is the company that made DmC Devil May Cry which was cool.

 

[Punished Miku]

That's not good news. He was their main writer and director. Guess we'll see how their sequel is.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Can't say I'm not jealous. My man is enjoying retirement to the fullest.

 

[Dr. Suchong]

Ruh-roh!

 

[midnightAI]

Well he's obviously living his best pirate life on the high seas

 

[Heisenberg007]

Can't say I'm not jealous. My man is enjoying retirement to the fullest.

A few women in this photo are just ...

 

[YOU PC BRO?!]

Terrible sign, it isn't often a studio is to able flourish once someone so important leaves. Take BioWare for example, since the doctors left that studio hasn't released a single compelling videogame.

 

[MALpractice311]

Terrible sign, it isn't often a studio is to able flourish when someone so important leaves. Take BioWare for example, since the doctors left that studio hasn't released a single compelling videogame.

Yup. Or for another recent MS acquisition, look at Arkane. They lost their founders too and their games have turned to shit as well.

 

[Hudo]

Can't say I'm not jealous. My man is enjoying retirement to the fullest.

IRL harem ending. Nice.

 

[balls of snow]

Can't say I'm not jealous. My man is enjoying retirement to the fullest.

Took Phil Nutella's money and ran.
Respect!

 

[Gojiira]

Bahaha maybe now the studio will lose the pretention and masturbatory interviews, and lets not forget shitting on fanbases.
Also guys, his insta pics are pure cringe, dont envy him, dont applaud him, the guy is a total prick.

 

[Braag]

Wasn't this the guy everyone hated and clowned on when DmC was being marketed and released?
Now the studio is apparently doomed without him, make up your mind internet.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

IRL harem ending. Nice.

My RL Dream Goal

 

[LordCBH]

Didn’t this dude insist they make Dante in their DmC game look like him?

 

[StueyDuck]

Can't say I'm not jealous. My man is enjoying retirement to the fullest.

I mean... for a studio that pushes alot of woke wankery, he sure didn't find much diversity in CT...

I mean rich ponsy poppy white girls is like what Cape Town is basically... but still he could of definitely found diversity if he wanted to.

 

[nosoynadie22]

Can't say I'm not jealous. My man is enjoying retirement to the fullest.

Damn

 

[phant0m]

Wasn't this the guy everyone hated and clowned on when DmC was being marketed and released?
Now the studio is apparently doomed without him, make up your mind internet.

I enjoyed DmC quite a bit but yes, a lot of people hated on it. Particularly the edgelord version of Dante.

 

[FIREKNIGHT2029]

Never a good sign when your co-founder of your studio/director/writer leaves before the game is released.


I wonder what he saw that made him leave before the game was out. I'm also wondering why MS kept quiet about this and kept it a secret.

 

[Zones]

Well he's obviously living his best pirate life on the high seas

By selling his tiny indie studio with practically no prior major success for $117m, he sure as hell robbed Microsoft.

 

[Snake29]

What was that other game in development, Project Mara right? I have a feeling that on is canceld.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

My RL Dream Goal

 

[Hayabusabruh]

How many is that now? Are we gonna find out later Microsoft is on some P-Diddy shit?

 

[JimmyF]

He took the money and paid some escorts to hang out with him good for him.

 

[Clear]

Guess he got the bag, served his contractual post-acquisition time and now its party time!

Not a fan of the guy, but fair play to him. That's the smart move.

 

[Killer8]

Buying up a studio only for the key talent to leave is a tale as old as time.

 

[Flabagast]

Guy seems like a massive douche tbh

 

[Unknown?]

He's at Santa Monica's new Heavenly Sword division.

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

Happens all the time I guess. Only thing I find weird is that not a single thing was said about it. Now that doesn't ever seem to happen.

 

[Majormaxxx]

I enjoyed their 3 early games on ps3.

Now he cashed out and is living it up Rick-James-via-Dave-Chappelle style.

 

[Astray]

I'm also wondering why MS kept quiet about this and kept it a secret.

Came in to say this.

It's extremely unusual for someone this high-ranked to leave without any kind of news coming out. Not necessarily nefarious, but unusual.

I have a guess of mine about why it happened that way, but I'm not sure it's appropriate to publicly speculate about it.

 

[Humdinger]

I watched plenty of behind-the-scenes development footage of Hellblade. It was clear that Antoniades was the main creative force behind that game -- he had the vision, the sensibility to try to do it right, and the passion.

I'm not sure why he decided to leave the studio. My hunch is that he was too much of a "creative" type to live under MS direction. He must have been in good shape financially after MS bought the studio. Maybe he decided he'd rather do something else than work under MS. But I'm just speculating.

 

[Evil Calvin]

Can't say I'm not jealous. My man is enjoying retirement to the fullest.

Maybe he should have spent more time focusing on the game rather than partying it up.

 

[saintjules]

That's not good news. He was their main writer and director. Guess we'll see how their sequel is.

Yeah he was the only guy that I would ever see when it came to Hellblade and other stuff at Ninja Theory. Hmm.

 

[TVexperto]

Can't say I'm not jealous. My man is enjoying retirement to the fullest.

smash

 

[penguinspl]

What was that other game in development, Project Mara right? I have a feeling that on is canceld.

Project Mara

Announcing Project: MARA. Project: MARA is an in-development experimental title that explores new ways of storytelling.

project-mara.com

Website still on with 2024 mark

 

[adamsapple]

 

[nikolino840]

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

It's a omen...

 

[AJUMP23]

Looks like he is having fun.

 

[splattered]

Dude seems like too much of a playboy... creative sure but he seems to take too long with the creative process. MS wants more games out through the year so there was probably a clash here and he decided to leave. Hopefully the studio hangs in there and continues to do well, they've made some awesome stuff.

 

[DonF]

Good on him. We can see who he really was. He might return with another studio. Guy was a real character.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

It's nice to see some 70 plus something, cocain addicted gay fashion designer enjoy life for once.

 

[Roberts]

I enjoyed watching interviews with him over the years. He always sounded like a pretentious, esoteric bullshit kind of a guy but obviously a talented writer and game designer. Judging by the instagram videos here, he dropped all the goth guru pretence and just went into full cocaine party mode. Good for him!

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

This dude looks EXACTLY how I imagined every single idiot involved in that garbage DMC reboot.

 

[Porticus]

I enjoyed watching interviews with him over the years. He always sounded like a pretentious, esoteric bullshit kind of a guy but obviously a talented writer and game designer. Judging by the instagram videos here, he dropped all the goth guru pretence and just went into full cocaine party mode. Good for him!

Talented game designer?