Returnal Director Announces Departure from Housemarque

Harry Krueger, the director at Housemarque who most recently worked on the PlayStation 5 exclusive Returnal, has announced that he is leaving the company. Within the larger lineup of PlayStation Studios, Housemarque is one of the newer developers that Sony has purchased as it only acquired the studio back in 2021. Now, when it comes to Housemarque's future, it will be without one of its most notable devs for its next PlayStation title. 

In a message posted to Housemarque's official website, the studio revealed that Krueger would today be departing after joining the company 14 years ago. During his tenure, Krueger most notably served as the game director of Returnal, which was released back in 2021. In addition to his work on this project, Krueger was also the director of Nex Machina, one of the lead programmers of Resogun, and was also a key contributor to Outland. For the time being, Krueger hasn't said where he'll be going next, but he has expressed great optimism when it comes to Housemarque and what the studio has in store next. 

"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," Krueger said of his decision to leave the studio. "It's been an honor 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. 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." 

Currently, Housemarque has yet to divulge what its next project will be. Given that Returnal is now well over two years old, though, it's safe to say that the developer is well into working on another title for PlayStation 5. Whether or not this game is formally shown off by PlayStation in the near future isn't yet known, but Housemarque will definitely be a studio worth monitoring throughout 2024.