It’s been over two and a half years since Returnal first launched on PS5 consoles, and the game’s director, Harry Krueger, has announced his departure from the PlayStation-owned studio in a blog post on Housemarque’s website.
Krueger’s time with the developer comes after just less than two months of his 15th anniversary. He first joined the then-independent Housemarque as a gameplay programmer in January 2009, and two years later, was promoted to lead programmer in 2011. In that time, in both programmer positions, Krueger has worked on familiar Housemarque games like Outland and Resogun. After three years, Krueger moved up the ladder again, but this time to game director in 2014, and in that time, he has directed Nex Machina and BAFTA Game Award-winning Returnal, according to his LinkedIn.
“During my 14 years at Housemarque, I’ve been incredibly fortunate to work on one dream project after another and had the privilege of working alongside some truly talented and wonderful people along the way. It’s been an honour to accompany Housemarque on this journey, witnessing our growth from our smaller arcade-inspired titles to the magnificent heights we reached with Returnal. We really shook the pillars of heaven together, and I will forever be proud of all the amazing things we’ve accomplished as a studio,” Krueger said in a statement in a blog post.
“Departing from Housemarque was a very difficult decision for me, but I’m leaving the company with nothing but deep gratitude for the past and a glowing optimism for the future – with an exciting new project in the works, a fantastic team that’s stronger than ever, and the continuous support of Sony and PlayStation Studios, I know that Housemarque’s brightest chapter has yet to be written.”
Nothing is known where Krueger will go from here or if he’ll continue in the game development industry. The studio’s co-founder and general manager, Ilari Kuittinen, says, “Harry’s passion and direction have been vital in sculpting our studio’s trajectory to the current scale” and that his work on Returnal “speaks volumes of his impact and vision.” Wherever the Returnal Director goes from here, we at Console Creatures wish Harry Krueger well in his future endeavours.
