Infamous: Second Son launches Friday, but its lead designer has already left its studio

Updated at 3:28 p.m. Pacific time.

Infamous: Second Son comes out this Friday. But when it hits retail, its lead designer won’t be a member of the development team at Sucker Punch.

Jaime Griesemer unofficially confirmed his departure from Sucker Punch with a Twitter reply to a fan’s question.

Griesemer provided the following statement to GamesBeat:

I appreciate all the well-wishes on the news that I am leaving Sucker Punch, but please don’t take the timing as cause for concern about Second Son – it’s a great game that I am proud to have on my resume and I can’t wait for everyone to play it – or Sucker Punch – a studio on the rise with a bright future – or Sony – a great organization with some of the savviest, most pro-gamer executives in the business. And while I am honored to be mentioned in the same articles as legendary designers like Amy Hennig and Stig Asmussen, please don’t look too hard for some sinister pattern.

The truth is that any creative, vibrant industry is necessarily volatile; the only sure bet is that the next few years will not look the same as the last. Change is part of the job, but along with the upheaval and uncertainty, there’s opportunity and new challenges. It’s an exciting time to be a free agent and I’m going to go see what’s out there. Simple as that.

Griesemer joined Sucker Punch in June 2011 to and was the lead designer on the Festival of Blood standalone expansion of Infamous 2. Before that, he spent 12 years with Bungie as a designer for the Halo franchise and Destiny.

Infamous: Second Son is the first major PlayStation 4 exclusive to release in 2014.