Perfect Dark Design Director leaves the initiative

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The Design Director of Perfect Dark studio The Initiative has announced that he is leaving the project. Drew Murray. revealed the news on Twitter (as noted by VGC). Murray previously worked on Resistance, Ratchet & Clank and Sunset Overdrive at Insomniac Games before leaving in 2018 to kickstart Microsoft’s first-party studio. Leaving to focus on his “life outside of work”, he tweeted that the farewell felt bittersweet after working with “such a talented and experienced team”.

“The team has the vision and talent to knock the game and franchise out of the park,” Murray tweeted about the future of the project, noting that the reveal trailer still gives him goosebumps. Interestingly, Murray points out that when he joined The Initiative, he was unaware that the team would be working on a Perfect Dark game.

Murray says the silver lining of this is that he will experience Perfect Dark as a fan on launch day. The Perfect Dark reboot project was announced in December 2020 at The Game Awards and promises to deliver an “eco sci-fi” first-person shooter. You can learn more about the game in our coverage of the reveal.

Santa Monica-based studio The Initiative was unveiled by Microsoft in 2018 and famously described as seeking ‘AAAA’ standards in job openings. The development team is currently led by Darrell Gallagher, a veteran of Rockstar Games, Crystal Dynamics and Activision where he worked on games such as GTA IV and Tomb Raider.

Brian Westergaard, lead producer of God of War and Christian Cantamessa, lead writer of Red Dead Redemption, also work at The Initiative, where they most likely contribute to Perfect Dark. It is part of Microsoft’s growing number of studios following the recent acquisition of Zenimax Media.

Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

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