David Wise, composer since 1985, leaves Rare

MundoRare writes: "Recent times and cancellations have shown that all is not well in Rare-land. As if the cancellations of both Perfect Dark 2 and Kameo 2 in favor of Project Natal have shaken the faith of even the most loyal Rare fans, David Wise's departure from Rare could very well be the killing blow. [...]

From his Facebook: "I think the business of Rare has changed a great deal, and at the moment there is just not the opportunity to create the soundtracks that Rare were fortunately very famous for."

Unfortunately, though, this is only the most recent loss of a distinguished employee within the British developer in the recent months.

Back in August, Steve Burke, another prominent Rare musician from Kameo fame, also left the company to take a year's sabbatical "to go travelling," according to some Rare sources; no word if the real reason could be or not related with his well known desires to work for the film industry. Burke and Wise's departures only follow the trade open by Grant Kirkhope a year ago.

Out of the musical department, there has recently been huge losses, with Microsoft's recent restructuring process affecting several engineers and artists, including Steve Malpass, designer for Banjo-Tooie, Perfect Dark, Ghoulies and Nuts & Bolts. Moreover, some programmers have also left, like veteran Mark Edmonds, one of the remaining members of the original GoldenEye 007 team, who abandoned Rare in late 2008 after 14 years of work at Twycross."