Industry mainstay Doug Church, whose impressive track record dates back to the early 90s on numerous triple-A projects, has joined Valve. Dealing mainly in the creative side of the business, his name appears in credits for titles in the Ultima, Thief and critically-acclaimed System Shock series.

In 2003, Church was presented with a “Community Contribution” award by the IGDA for his team-building efforts over a span of 12 years.

While Valve’s head PR man Doug Lombardi confirmed to Gamasutra that Church has been with the company for a couple weeks, he was unsure which specific project – if any – the designer had been assigned to. At any rate, this is quite the coup for Valve, given Church’s history.

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