One of the week's gaming controversies stemmed from comments made by Harvey Smith, the creative director of Midway Games' Austin studio. Speaking at the Montreal International Game Summit in Quebec, the outspoken developer gave a cudgel-blunt postmortem of his studio's recently released sci-fi shooter, BlackSite: Area 51 (PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360).
"This project was so f***ed up," Smith said before going on to describe the game's development schedule as "completely reprehensible" for allegedly favoring milestones over bug fixes. He also lamented the lack of acclaim for the game's political satire. "How can you look at all these elements and not think this is super f***ing subversive," he asserted when describing the game, which he feels deserves better than its middling reviews.
Now, it appears that Smith's unfiltered candor has been followed by a newfound job search. GameTap is citing "informed sources" as saying that Smith's three-year tenure at the Austin shop has come to an abrupt end. A senior member of Midway Austin's staff told GameTap that Smith left the company following "mutual agreement between Harvey and the studio."
[UPDATE]: A Midway representative confirmed to GameSpot that Harvey Smith is no longer an employee of the company, but did not address the situation further.