Stuart Black, the vision behind Black and the upcoming Bodycount, has “decided to move on” from the Bodycount team.

“Having created a great vision and direction for Bodycount, Stuart has decided to move on after three years with us,” said Codemasters Guildford studio manager Adrian Bolton.

“He will see out his design role until and, though the transition period, will continue to work with the talented development team that will take the game through to completion.”

The game is due early next year, and Black was a huge exponent of the title, saying it was going to reinvent the shooter genre, and in particular, spoke up about the need for story in video games.

There was no reason given for his decision to depart, though it’s reasonable to expect that he feels the title will be near enough to completion that he can begin work on another project.

If we hear anything regarding why he’s left, we’ll update this post.