While the departure of Rod Fergusson from Epic Games to BioShock Infinite developer Irrational Games came as quite a big shock, the nature of said acquisition was sure to delight fans of Irrational's highly anticipated follow-up. However, more news has released that not only impacts the lives of the three individuals involved, but now calls into question the quality of the project Epic Games was currently helping out on, Gears of War: Judgment.

Three key members of People Can Fly, the Bulletstorm developer now working on Judgment, have left the company "in order to pursue other opportunities." Those three team members are Adrian Chimelarz, Andrzej Poznanski, and Michael Kosieradzki. Chimelarz was working as Creative Lead on Gears of War: Judgment, and Kosieradzki and Poznanski were working as artists on the project.

While neither People Can Fly nor Epic Games would comment on the nature of these three departures, their public statement seems to suggest the three left for other projects. Rod Fergusson is only one man, so perhaps he sought the help of some of the individuals he was working closely with on Judgment to help BioShock Infinite make its February release date.

Or perhaps being tasked with working on a rote Gears sequel wasn't the Bulletstorm follow-up People Can Fly was hoping for. You'd have to figure that after paying their dues on Judgment, though, the developer would hopefully get the chance to work on something really exciting.

What it actually might boil down to is a case of creative control. Epic Games just recently announced their acquisition of People Can Fly whole cloth, giving them a controlling stake in the company. Much like Big Huge Games became Epic Baltimore, so does People Can Fly become an integral part of the Unreal and Gears developer's family.

But it obviously wasn't all good, since the three former owners just happen to be the same developers who departed People Can Fly. So maybe they aren't working on BioShock Infinite, but could be starting up a new, soon to be announced developmental outfit.

Do you think the three former People Can Fly members left to join Fergusson at Irrational? What would you like to see from People Can Fly after Gears of War: Judgment?

Source: Examiner, Joystiq