Drew Murray, who is known in the Xbox community most recently for working at The Initiative, the team behind the upcoming Perfect Dark reboot, has announced he is returning to Insomniac Games.
Murray previously revealed he had left The Initiative, and has worked with Insomniac Games before, helping design games such as the Xbox exclusive Sunset Overdrive. However, the developer is now more famously known for its work on PlayStation franchises such as Ratchet & Clank, which Murray has worked on previously.
In a Twitter post, Murray announced that he would be returning to Insomniac Games as principle designer. He says this now makes it his “seventh job title” and he is “excited” to be working with former colleagues.
The Initiative revealed their Perfect Dark reboot at The Game Awards back in December. While no release date was announced, its being developed as a first-party Xbox title, meaning Xbox Game Pass owners will be able to dive into the game day and date when it launches. Whenever that might be!
Are you excited to see what Murray can cook up next? Let us know in the comments below.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 14
He's a spy. Going home where he belongs.
I’ve said it before but The Initiative has so much talent and they’re making a Perfect Dark reboot, I can’t help but feel disappointed.
I don’t know this guys reason for leaving but it seems strange he’s rejoined his old team so soon.
Wasn't he leaving to give his "life outside of work" more attention?
@SalmonTag seems that way, I think you might be on to something
@abe_hikura
He's basically took a demotion, probably to have more free time that his previous job at The Initiative didn't allow for.
To put into context, he's gone from 'Lead Designer' to 'Principal Designer'.
Obviously a shame to see a talented individual leave, but The Initiative is literally filled with top talent from the industry, so they are in safe hands.
@abe_hikura Yep. I guess that was a lie since it was just reported a few weeks ago. Not enough time to really do much, and him going back to Insomniac so soon basically confirms it was a lie. Oh well in the end I guess.
....
So instead of taking a break for few weeks, he choose to retire from The Initiative and rejoin his previous studio...
Either something we don't know happened that leads to his change of heart, or something else went wrong in The Initiative at that time. Either way, this will rekindle console war no problem.
So much for that nonsense about he needed time to sort his personal life, tbh I couldn't care less about him going but its blatantly obvious he had already agreed to rejoin another studio and made an excuse up...
@KilloWertz read the comment above yours
One possible reason
@abe_hikura @endlessleep "work some days and make some games" do make it sound like he is working part time, so he might had gone back because they were willing to let him work part time, giving him time for life outside work.
The conspiracy stuff is, honestly, pointless and potentially very harmful.
@Tharsman To me, that sounds like shade.
"I guess x amount wasn't enough", "just got to work more, right?" sounds like he asked for something and was told he didn't have enough experience for whatever it was he asked for, or that MS/the initiative employees downplayed or belittled his resume.
@Jacko11 Yeah, I didn't see that until after I posted. It's the only reason that really makes sense. While anything is possible, like the scenario I said, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to do some elaborate exit when he could have just stepped down and went back to Insomniac without lying. So, again, I tend to agree with the other reason now.
Could be that there is so much 'high ranking' talent at The Initiative that there is bound to be power struggles and not everyone can be the director or lead designer, etc.. Some may feel they've taken a lesser role than their last job after being around so many other talented people on the same level. I'm sure he's great at what he does but I honestly don't feel like a Sunset Overdrive/Ratchet & Clank dev is a great loss for the kind of game they are trying to make.
It's lame that the only news regarding Perfect Dark's big budget US reboot is the studio losing some talent. I mean it's meaningless because we don't have any idea what his involvement really was... or how he shaped a game WE HAVEN'T SEEN IN ACTION YET. Microsoft really announced this thing too early and should've waited until they had more stuff - well, ANYTHING - to show of a game that will release, in some form, at some point, in the future.
The next time we hear about PD, I hope it's some freakin' gameplay. I've heard - from David Jaffe's youtube channel of all places - that it's going to be a third person cinematic thing more in line with an Uncharted than a proper stealthy game or anything resembling Perfect Dark, and that would be lame. That's like what Ubi Soft has been saying for years about Spinter Cell; that stealth games aren't a big enough deal to justify a AAA budget or production. I want to see Microsoft make some effort to proving that wrong, but I'm keeping my expectations in check.
Just show the game next time, MS.
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