Former Thief, Deus Ex boss trades AAA for mobile/social

Former Eidos Montreal general manager Stephane D'Astous, who resigned from his post at the Deus Ex and Thief studio last summer, has made a dramatic career change. Mobile and social game studio Hibernum Creations Inc. has hired D'Astous to become its chief operating officer, the company announced this week.

At Hibernum--which has done design work for big-name franchises like Assassin's Creed and Disney Infinity--D'Astous will help the company "define the future vision and strategy" while overseeing all operational and support departments, the company said in a statement.

"I'm super excited to join the dynamic team at Hibernum. I've been thinking moving onto the mobile side of our industry for a while now and I couldn't refuse the opportunity to join an up-and-coming studio with a great potential like Hibernum," D'Astous said in a statement.

Upon his exit from Eidos Montreal last year, D'Astous was critical of the way the studio was handled by its owner Square Enix. "The lack of leadership, lack of courage, and the lack of communication were so evident, that I wasn't able to conduct my job correctly. I realized that our differences were irreconcilable, and that the best decision was unfortunately to part ways," he said at the time.

Eidos Montreal recently shipped Thief to a middling critical reception. The studio cut 27 jobs just a week after the game's launch.