As Xbox Game Studios appear to have an increasingly promising future, one of The Initiative’s heavyweights is leaving the studio. Drew Murray, the former Insomniac Games Game Director on Sunset Overdrive, has announced that he will be leaving The Initiative after two years in the studio working on the next project, the Perfect Dark reboot. Murray had been part of The Initiative since 2018 and had the role of Design Director.
Aside from his work on Sunset Overdrive, which was one of the Xbox One exclusives that critics received quite well, Murray also worked as a designer on the Resistance series and Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. A few months after The Initiative officially announced that they were working on a Perfect Dark game, this news reaches us. With Murray out of the project, one of The Initiative’s heavyweights is certainly lost.
One of the heavyweights of The Initiative leaves the study
In a 5-part tweet, Murray announces that he is leaving The Initiative for personal reasons, stating that his life outside of work needed more attention and mental space. Murray was one of the keys hires The Initiative made when they were building the studio, especially after his work as lead designer on games like Sunset Overdrive and Resistance. Despite the loss of one of The Initiative’s heavyweights, it cannot be said that the studio is left homeless.
There is still a lot of talent in the studio, and Murray’s decision to leave the company for a better work-life balance makes sense. Microsoft announced its new gaming studio The Initiative during its E3 2018 press conference. The Santa Monica-based studio is led by former Crystal Dynamics director Darrel Gallagher. Since the studio announcement, several big names in the gaming industry have announced their move to Microsoft’s own new studio, including Red Dead Redemption designer Christian Cantamessa and GTA V developer Tom Shephard. So we can say that there are still heavyweights from The Initiative.
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.
(1/5) pic.twitter.com/LIY9AQDyTV— Drew Murray (@DrewMaru29) February 1, 2021