Close to half of Ruffian Games" Crackdown 2 team is made up of developers from the original group from Realtime Worlds. So says Ruffian Creative Director Bill Thompson in an interview with Edge, where he explains that the developer has "core members from every discipline who worked on [Crackdown], the majority of the design team," along with the coders and artists. That talent drain from Realtime Worlds might explain why its creative director, David Jones, was a "bit miffed at Microsoft" for giving the sequel to Ruffian Games.

Producer Jim Cope states that the company still maintains a "really strong working relationship" with Realtime, noting that they are neighbors in both "personal and professional relationships." Cope says the team firmly believe they"re "the right people" to make the sequel and that they know what to fix and enhance in the sequel.