The renowned publisher has appointed Ben Brinkman from Respawn Entertainment to direct the development team at 31st Union, which is currently working on the upcoming third-person roguelike extraction-shooter known as this innovative game.
Management Shift Follows Mixed Reception
The new appointee takes on the leadership position at 31st Union following the departure of former leader Michael Condrey, who was removed from his post due to Project Ethos' disappointing unveiling last autumn.
Recently, the company's top executive a key figure informed employees about this strategic move through an internal memo, which stressed that early feedback sessions had shown the need for a clearer direction.
Ismailer expressed that the team is now reimagining the project with a revised vision, aiming to satisfy player expectations.
A Pattern of Strategic Hires
The news follows a similar step taken by 2K Games in August, when they recruited Rod Fergusson from Blizzard to work on the beloved franchise development group.
Below is the complete message from Ismailer's communication:
Hello Everyone—
I understand you all just completed your town hall - I hope you’re as excited as I am with the positive developments. Previously I sent you all a note, I expressed the following: “I am confident in this group. You all are some of the most driven and talented designers we have had the pleasure to collaborate with - and we’re eager for that partnership to endure.”
Given your hard work and adaptability, particularly over the past twelve months, you continue to prove that.
The player input from last fall’s Project ETHOS testing phase was informative. It confirmed the appeal of a roguelike shooter but made clear we still had improvements to make. It revealed the requirement for a sharper vision.
The progress is encouraging to see how far you’ve advanced. You embraced the criticism to heart and reimagined the title with a renewed vision - one that’s positioned to fulfill its ambition to our audience.
The belief in this project strengthens every day. To boost the outstanding progress you’ve made, I’m excited to introduce the new hire as the new Studio Head of the team. After several months of discussions, he starts with us on Monday, October 20.
Ben’s management and background in the competitive gaming space is considerable, having spent the recent years creating and managing some of the most popular titles in the industry, including Call of Duty: Black Ops, and more recently, Apex Legends.
Please join me in receiving Ben in the coming days. We are all eager to persist seeing the evolution of Project ETHOS in the weeks to come.
David
Experience of the Incoming Head
The appointee presently serves in the position of senior developer and head of production at Respawn Entertainment for their flagship title. He earlier was employed at Treyarch and Activision in various production roles on the Call of Duty series, and, before that, had stints at 2K and Electronic Arts.
Title Details and Concept
The upcoming game was revealed in last year in conjunction with a community playtest. At the time, the developers presented the game as a "no-cost, third-person perspective action-packed experience and an innovative evolution on the style."
"Build your perfect run—or die trying—in this 3rd-person action shooter! Customize your character in live gameplay to match your preferred approach," the official summary explains. "Challenge the competition with fresh skills, risks, and tests that shift every session. Will you safely extract with your hard-earned loot? Or take a risk, put it on the line, and pray your team can secure victory? The option is yours."
The game has not yet received an confirmed debut schedule or supported systems, but fans can anticipate further news as production continues.
