Former Game Director for Valorant, Joe Ziegler, has announced via his Twitter account that he is moving on from his position at Riot Games to join the studio behind Destiny, Bungie. Ziegler will take the same role as he did at Riot while leading the development team in Bungie's unannounced project that could be a competitive shooter, according to a recent job listing.“I am departing with a heart full of gratitude for Riot Games and all of you for the amazing memories we’ve shared together. Happy to announce my new home is at Bungie working on new stuff that hopefully will one day get to be played by you all." Although Ziegler has not specified what project he will be working on at Bungie, it could be the studio's new third-person action IP known by its trademark, 'Matter.'
Following his tenure at Pandemic Studios and Killspace Entertainment, Joseph Ziegler landed at Riot as a game designer way back in 2010 and became a lead designer for the studio 2 years later. Having worked in the same position for six years, Ziegler fulfilled a position as game director for Valorant between 2019 and 2021. He was one of the core members building Valorant from the ground up along with Andy Ho, who took over directing operations for the hit shooter last year. "I am giving up the mantle of game director of the VALORANT tac-shooter to my good friend, Andy Ho." Ziegler announced he stepped down from his position in 2021.
After making Valorant one of the highest-growing competitive shooter games on the market, Ziegler claimed that he will be starting something new that can scratch the impact Valorant has already had since its initial launch. Ziegler will probably be working on the studio's new IP that has been funded by NetEase, given that he will take the same position at Bungie. Codenamed 'Matter', it has been rumored to be a live-service, action title using Destiny 2's Tiger Engine.
According to the new job listing, Bungie is looking for a Senior Marketing Manager who has experience in live operations and games as a service, hinting that it could adopt a free-to-play model such as Destiny 2. Whether that is related to Ziegler's next project remains to be seen.