Approximately ten months after departing the company for a position at Riot Games, Joe Blackburn has now returned to Bungie. It hasn’t been confirmed whether or not the ex-design lead will be reprising his role, but he has announced on Twitter that he’ll be working on Destiny 2.
Getting to share some good news…I just finished my second day back at Bungie. Very excited to be working on Destiny 2 again. I loved my time at Riot, but it was time to come home. We’ll talk more in the future, but for now I’ve got to start grinding power for this dungeon.
— Joe Blackburn (@joegoroth) June 10, 2020
Blackburn departed Bungie in April of 2019, as reported by Game Rant, and moved on to a position with the developer behind League of Legends as principal designer in the Research and Development department. Now, he’s returning home to roost at Bungie as of June 9. When he had worked on Bungie previously, Blackburn went from Raid design lead to design lead and is known for working on the acclaimed Last Wish raid that is a standout part of the Forsaken expansion.
The game has changed drastically since Blackburn’s departure, with major milestones like entering Year 3 of Destiny 2 and Shadowkeep launching making up a large part of the content landscape.
