Ninja Theory Co-Founder Has Left The Hellblade 2 Studio

Tameem Antoniades, a co-founder of Xbox's Ninja Theory studio and writer and director of the imminent Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2, has left the developer. As the first ever Xbox Series X game to be revealed, Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 was announced alongside the unveiling of the Series X at the 2019 Game Awards and is the direct sequel of 2017's hit cinematic adventure game, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice.

After several more gameplay showings at showcases and events over the past couple of years, Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2's latest appearance at Xbox's most recent Developer Direct in January finally gave the long awaited game its May 21 release date. The eight-minute Developer Direct deep dive also gave eager fans yet another glimpse of Hellblade 2's cinematically brutal combat and its top-of-class audio design. Next to Avowed and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Hellblade 2 is set to be one of Xbox's biggest first party exclusive games coming this year.

Just a month and a half before the release of Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2, Xbox has confirmed that Ninja Theory's co-founder and Chief Creative Director Tameem Antoniades has made his departure from the studio. Exactly when he left is unknown, but over his years with Ninja Theory, Antoniades was known for games like Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Heavenly Sword, DmC: Devil May Cry, and, of course, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. In his absence, Hellblade 2 is being led to the finish line by Visual Effects Director Mark Slater-Tunstill, Environment Art Director Dan Attwell, and Audio Director David Garcia.

Whether Tameem Antoniades goes on to join another acclaimed studio in the future or start a development studio of his very own is unknown. If one thing is certain, it's that he left behind a state-of-the-art motion capture stage at Ninja Theory, and that attempting to create a new game as cinematically rich as Hellblade 2 without it would be no easy task. As for the future of Ninja Theory, with Atwell, Slater-Tunstill,