The former Rare artist Brett Jones sadly passed away earlier this week, as reported by VGC.
Jones worked at Rare from 1994 to 2002, contributing to classic games like Perfect Dark and GoldenEye 007 as an artist and modeller.
He was instrumental in replicating the iconic costume design of the Bond films for GoldenEye 007 and also played a huge part in designing Perfect Dark's protagonist Joanna Dark.
After leaving Rare, he went on to have a great career in VFX, working on countless TV shows and Hollywood films like Guardians of the Galaxy, The Last Jedi, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
The news was broken on Twitter earlier today by Jones's former Rare colleague Dr. David Doak, who tweeted "RIP Brett Jones - you absolute legend."
Doak later went on to add, "I'm so glad you got to meet Brett. So much of what made GE007 and PD special came from Brett's talent and rascal humour."
A crowdfunding campaign is currently underway to help fund an art exhibition of Jones' work on the website Justgiving. It will take place at the Atkins Gallery in Hinckley, Leicestershire, UK and will "go ahead whatever happens".
The news comes as a shock to us, as we were recently talking to Jones about interviewing him about his opinions on the new Perfect Dark trailer.
Despite telling us that he was not in the best of health, he seemed extremely enthusiastic about sharing his opinions with fans of the series and we eventually agreed to reconnect in the future when he was feeling a little more up to it. If anything, this just goes to show how generous Jones was with his time and the community who loved his games, and we're thankful for our interactions with them — however slight they may be.
At Time Extension, our thoughts are with all of Jones' friends and family during this difficult time.