Teddy Dief leaves Square Enix Montreal

Square Enix Montreal creative director Teddy Dief has left the company after the project he was working on was cancelled.

Dief, who was one of the designers on indie hit Hyper Light Drifter, took to his website to announce that he had left his position at Square Enix Montreal as a result of the project being cancelled. Dief has been with the company for a little over 18 months, joining in June 2016.

"My team were working on a game that I deeply wish we could have shared with you. But the business strategy of the studio shifted, and our project was sadly no longer compatible," Dief said in a post on his website.

"Thankfully, the talented team remain employed and valued, assigned to other projects. Because of this shift and the loss of our project, I no longer feel this is the place for me to pursue the type of work I aspire to make – the avenues of storytelling in game design I’ve been trying to explore in my career."

Dief, also a founder member of Los Angeles based game development collective Glitch City, will be returning to the city to work on indie games full time. Whether this means a return to Heart Machine or something new entirely remains to be seen.

Speaking of seeing you can see Dief in Square Bowl IV, a community JRPG stream that he co-organises, when it takes place this weekend.