EA Motive Studios announced today that Portal designer Kim Swift has joined the developer. Swift, a former Valve employee, left the Left 4 Dead developer in 2009 to join Airtight Games, where she worked on Quantum Conundrum. Most recently, she had been working at Amazon as a senior designer.
“It’s with great pleasure that I welcome Kim Swift to Motive Studios and EA as Design Director,” wrote Jade Raymond, who is the Group General Manager at Motive Studios and Visceral Games. “Well known for her innovative work on the Portal and Left for Dead Franchises, Kim has already had a huge impact on the Game Industry. Motive has a mission to innovate and pioneer new ways to play and create worlds that allow for relentless discovery. I couldn’t think of a better person than Kim to help us achieve those ambitions.”
It looks like Swift will work be working on Visceral Games’ upcoming Star Wars game, and Raymond mentioned that she was already “buzzing” with ideas:
“We’ve devoted much of the past year at Motive to building a team of amazingly talented people to work on our new IP and Star Wars projects. I could not be more excited to welcome an all-star like Kim, who shares our enthusiasm for building exceptional games. Her first question to me: “When can I set up the Frostbite engine and start prototyping?” shows a hands-on approach that we value here at Motive. The team is buzzing with new ideas and I can’t wait to see what we can bring to life together.”
It’s certainly a great hire for Electronic Arts, as Swift joins industry veterans such as Jade Raymond and Uncharted director Amy Hennig.
(Source: Electronic Arts)
