The Division game director joins Hitman dev IO Interactive

Newsbrief: The Division game director Ryan Barnard has left Ubisoft Massive after four years to join Hitman developer IO Interactive. 

Barnard, who worked as a game designer at both Crytek and EA Mythic before heading to Massive, will serve as IO's gameplay director.

"Ryan will focus on expanding on the near-endless possibilities of gameplay that a game like Hitman possesses," read an IO statement. 

"This means heading up the future efforts of three of our very core teams – gameplay, online and world – which will be no small task."

Barnard leaves Massive and Ubisoft in good shape, with The Division recently becoming the fastest selling game in the publisher's history, shifting more copies in 24 hours than any other Ubisoft title.