Jason Rubin, the former president of THQ and co-founder of Naughty Dog, has lauded Metro: Last Light for its technical and creative achievements while drawing attention to the working conditions at Ukraine-based developer 4A Games.

"The budget of Last Light is less than some of its competitors spend on cut scenes, a mere 10 percent of the budget of its biggest competitors," Rubin wrote in a post on GamesIndustry.

"Yet it is lauded for its story and atmosphere. It is built on a completely original and proprietary second-generation engine that competes with sequels that have stopped numbering themselves, with more engineers on their tech than 4A has on the entire project. Yet its tech chops are never in question."

Ubisoft has indefinitely suspended development on 1666, following the dismissal of Patrice Désilets, creative lead on this game, and creative director on Assassin’s Creed and Assassin’s Creed II.

Désilets left Ubisoft to set up a new Montreal-based studio with THQ. When that publisher folded earlier this year, Ubisoft picked up the studio and its intellectual property. However, Désilets was dismissed two months later.

In an investor call last night, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said, “After more than two months of discussion with [Désilets], we couldn't align our vision both on project development and team management. Consequently our collaboration has ended. We have suspended development on 1666 for an undisclosed time.”