Crytek's principal graphics engineer departs for id Software

Tiago Sousa, a longtime Crytek employee who served as the R&D Principal Graphics Engineer in the company's Frankfurt studio, has announced that he's left the company to become the Lead Rendering Programmer at Doom developer id Software.

The stories of trouble at Crytek have been persistent but unverified, and it's impossible to know to what extent Sousa's move to id Software is connected to it, if at all. But at least his departure is confirmed.

Happy to announce i'll be helping the amazingly talented id Software team with Doom and idTech 6. Very excited :) July 18, 2014

Sousa has been with Crytek since the original Far Cry and has been the Principal Graphics Engineer on the Frankfurt R&D team since Crysis 2 . That may not be the most glamorous development job ever, but given Crytek's well-deserved reputation for developing cutting-edge game engines, it's hardly insignificant. Sousa's move is good news for id and anyone looking forward to big things from Doom (and, maybe someday, Quake), but for Crytek, it has to hurt.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.