Ruffian Games Hires More Crackdown Veterans

Scottish developer Ruffian Games has announced the hiring of a new lead designer and senior designer, with the appointment of Steve Iannetta and Ed Campbell, respectively. The new studio, which formally launched last month, is staffed by a number of ex-Realtime Worlds employees who worked on Xbox 360 exclusive Crackdown for Microsoft. The company has been repeatedly linked with a sequel to the game, but no official announcement has been made. Iannetta has previously worked at VIS Entertainment, Red Lemon Studios, Realtime Worlds and Midway Newcastle. After entering the industry as a graphic artist, his most recent credits have included senior mission design on Crackdown and lead world designer on Midway’s Wheelman. Campbell has over 20 years experience in the games industry, beginning as an artist, animator and designer on 16-bit platformer Zool 2. His most recent work has been solely in terms of design, on titles such as Point of View’s NARC, DC Studios’State of Emergency 2 and Crackdown. Studio head Gaz Liddon commmented, "We’re delighted to have these guys on board... We only want to make the very best games and you can only achieve that through great design. Steve and Ed joining is another step towards that."