Perfect Dark design director departs Xbox's The Initiative studio

Murray says he wants to focus on his personal life.

One of the top developers on the rebooted Perfect Dark is leaving the project.

Design director Drew Murray announced his departure from the studio in a thread on Twitter, saying that he was bidding Microsoft's The Initiative studio farewell in order to focus more on his personal life. He joined the developer back in November 2018 having previously worked at Ratchet & Clank studio Insomniac for over a decade.

"After two wild years helping start The Initiative and rebooting Perfect Dark, it's time for me to say a tearful and bittersweet goodbye to my team at The Initiative," he wrote.

"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.

"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."

Microsoft set up The Initiative in the summer of 2018, with hints emerging that the Santa Monica-based studio was working on a new Perfect Dark project. The game was officially announced at The Game Awards 2020, with developers - including Murray - saying that the aim was to differentiate it from other shooters on the market.

“One of the things we thought about was how to differentiate what we call ‘spy fighting’ versus what you’d see in a traditional first-person shooter," Murray said.