Driver creator leaves Reflections

Martin Edmondson, founder of UK development studio Reflections and creator of the Driver series, has announced his departure from the Atari-owned studio, where he was managing and creative director.

"As of December 7th, I have resigned from my position as managing and creative director of Reflections Interactive," Edmondson told UK trade magazine MCV in a statement this week.

"Having founded Reflections in 1984 and enjoyed almost two decades of creative and commercial success there, I still feel a great sense of attachment to the studio and am very sad to leave," he continued. "Reflections remains home to a team of talented and committed people and I wish them all a great deal of success in the future. It is too early for me to announce my own plans, but I fully intend to carry on creating original IP and bringing successful games to market."

In its twenty year history Reflections has created a number of break-out hits, including the Destruction Derby titles for the PlayStation, famous Amiga action title Shadow of the Beast, and, of course, the Driver series, whose success led Atari to acquire the studio in 1998.

The most recent title in the Driver series, Driv3r, was Atari's biggest commercial hope for this year, but the game launched to hugely polarised critical reaction - ultimately leading to allegations from some quarters that the firm had offered bribes or marketing deals in return from high review scores from certain publications.