Far Cry 2 creator leaves Ubisoft

Clint Hocking, game designer of Splinter Cell and creative director of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Far Cry 2, has left Ubisoft.

"In the 451 weeks that I have been here, I have adopted many new habits. It has taken tremendous effort to prevent those habits from atrophying into bad ones," explained Hocking on his blog.

"Pride burns into hubris. Willingness wilts into desperation. Confidence slows to stubbornness. Passion boils into anger. Each of these faults and others - without care and constant self-examination - risk becoming habits.

"I am too comfortable. I am too content. And I know where that can lead for me.

"Fortunately, for the first time in my life, I know the way forward," he added. "The way forward lies in my having the courage that I did not know I had a decade ago to bid farewell to those tragically comforting habits. I need to walk on hot coals and sleep on a bed of nails. I need to chew on broken glass. I need to drink paint."

Hocking joined Ubisoft nearly nine years ago after sending his resume in as "a lark". Six weeks later he was living in Montreal and working as a script writer and game designer on Splinter Cell. "I was a rookie on an upstart team that won the World Series in their first season in the Major Leagues," said Hocking.

He has shipped over 12 million units for Ubisoft and admits he has "been very lucky, to say the least".