Halo Infinite art director joins former 343 Industries colleagues at Team Kaiju

Former Halo Infinite art director Nicolas 'Sparth' Bouvier has joined Team Kaiju as senior art director after leaving 343 Industries in July.

Team Kaiju is the studio formed by the Tencent-backed Timi Studios Group in October 2021 to help the Chinese company move into triple-A development.

The nascent studio was co-founded by former Halo 4 lead designer Scott Warner and Battlefield veteran Rosi Zagorcheva. Bouvier, who spent almost 14 years working on the Halo franchise, also worked on Halo 4. Team Kaiju's debut project is being billed as a "global blockbuster" first-person shooter.

Outlining why he joined Team Kaiju, Bouvier said he wanted to "join a new adventure in triple-A games" and was excited by the prospect of reuniting with Warner and fellow 343 Industries alumnus Brad Welch, who served as design director on Halo 5.

Notably, Bouvier added that Team Kaiju's commitment to creating a hybrid workplace by combining remote and in-office setups was also a big selling point.

"Knowing Scott and Brad was the first trigger, but the ongoing project, the team’s experience and also how positive and professional my first contacts were from day one, were all important reasons for my decision," said Bouvier.

"And as Team Kaiju is a distributed team, I’m looking forward to working on a team that understands how the pandemic completely redefined the way we remotely interact and work within teams and projects. The industry has proven that making successful games remotely is possible and despite potential challenges with production, team synergy and studio culture as well as the need to improve communication and online tools, redefining this new ecosystem is what excites me."

Bouvier's decision to leave 343 Industries followed other notable departures including Halo Infinite design lead Jerry Hook and Halo Infinite multiplayer lead Andrew Witts.