The Initiative loses one of the veterans

One of the people that has contributed to set up Microsoft's first party studio The Initiative is Drew Murray, who previously worked at Insomniac Games on The Resistance series as well as Sunset Overdrive. He joined when the studio was founded in 2018 as design director and has been working on Perfect Dark since then.

But now, Murray has decided to leave and writes that his "life outside of work needs more attention and headspace". Here's what he had to say:

"After two wild years helping start @TheInitiative @Xbox and rebooting #PerfectDark, it's time for me to say a tearful and bittersweet goodbye to my team at The Initiative. It's been extraordinary working shoulder-to-shoulder with such a talented and experienced team, many of whom are great friends now, but my life outside of work needs more attention and headspace than I have been able to give it lately, so I'm stepping down from my role.

Mystery surrounded the project when I joined the studio - I didn't know what kind of game it was, I didn't know it was going to be Perfect Dark, and I didn't know anyone on the team. Two years later, we announced the franchise with a trailer that still gives me goosebumps. Most importantly, the team has the vision and talent to knock the game and franchise out of the park. My silver lining to all this is that I'm excited to join the screaming masses on Perfect Dark launch day to experience the game!"

Balancing life isn't always easy and we hope that Murray will be back in business sooner rather than later as this is a talent the game industry really needs. It is currently unknown who will takes his place as design director at The Initiative.