Destiny Senior Designer Leaves For Bethesda

The development team for Destiny just lost one of its designers. Senior gameplay designer Josh Hamrick announced on Friday (via VG247) that he's leaving the company after six years:

Next Friday, after nearly 6 amazing years and w/ REACH & Destiny on the shelf, I say goodbye to my @Bungie family... A new adventure awaits!

— Josh Hamrick (@Josh_Hamrick) March 28, 2015

To both my @Bungie family & our fans (looking at you 7th Column), from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU! It's been an honor and a pleasure.

— Josh Hamrick (@Josh_Hamrick) March 28, 2015

I'll miss @Bungie more than words can tell, but I'm excited about both new challenges and being much closer to our hometown and our family.

— Josh Hamrick (@Josh_Hamrick) March 28, 2015

Love you @Bungie! Thanks for millions of great memories. Keep kicking ass! Always & forever your biggest fan. <3 josh pic.twitter.com/HlW9DszpfO

— Josh Hamrick (@Josh_Hamrick) March 28, 2015

After teasing his next employer for a bit, he revealed that he's going to Bethesda Game Studios, developers of Fallout 3 and the single-player Elder Scrolls games:

Bethesda! It's Bethesda! I'm going to @BethesdaStudios and I'm super stoked about it!! :-). I hope you'll continue to follow along with me!

— Josh Hamrick (@Josh_Hamrick) March 28, 2015

It's unclear what he'll be working on. Bethesda Game Studios hasn't announced their next game. It's believed to be Fallout 4, though. This new game has been their full focus since they finished Skyrim's DLC two years ago. Even if Bethesda's managed to fake everyone out and their next game is actually Elder Scrolls 6, Hamrick's experience with making open-world games should be helpful to the team.

During his years with Bungie, Hamrick also worked as sandbox designer on Halo: Reach. His employer before Bungie was Midway Studios, where he served as designer on sci-fi shooter BlackSite: Area 51.

Destiny players shouldn't be worried about Hamrick's departure, though. The development team for the game is still massive so it's probably easier for them to endure turnover, even among senior staff. Activision has invested considerably in Destiny, considering it at least a 10-year franchise. The exact size of the team is unclear but it's supposedly the most expensive game ever made so there are other designers to carry the load while Bungie searches for a replacement.

Bungie, meanwhile, still has plenty of work to do on Destiny. They've announced two more expansions for the game, and thereare reportedly several more in development as well. Beyond that, the studio is working on a sequel.