Former H-Hour: World’s Elite creative director David Sears has announced his official departure from SOF Studios earlier today.

For ‘personal reasons’, Sears made the ‘hard decision’, leaving behind his vision and framework for remaining members of the SOF team to successfully deliver a true spiritual successor to the classic games H-Hour is built upon.

SOF Programmer Kevin De Respino wrote in a reassuring note to fans on the studio’s official website, “Hearing of David’s departure was disappointing BUT I want to stress my absolute commitment to this project.”

“I am a longtime fan of the SOCOM games, with over 1,000 hours played in SOCOM 1 & 2 combined,” he continued. “I have also been working at SOF Studios since the inception of this project. I worked side by side with David for a year and a half and I know the creative vision he had for this game very well. Our goals for H-Hour have not and will not change.”

Studio co-founder, Tom, added a few of his own words: “I’ve personally learned a tremendous amount from David during the 2 yrs. and 3 months I’ve worked with him. The Studio and I wish him nothing but success in his new endeavor and he’ll always have a seat in the Studio if he ever decides to come back full time.”

“To quote a Navy SEAL phrase ‘The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday.’ Regardless of how hard it may get or what obstacles may get in our way, SOF Studios has every intention of delivering the feel and addictive game-play experience you all expect and deserve in H-Hour: World’s Elite.”

Lastly, here’s exactly what Sears had to say about his departure:

“For personal reasons I had to make the hard decision to leave SOF Studios. This was particularly difficult since I had invested so much of myself in the project and the design for the full game. However, that design is done and the team is experienced and more than capable of delivering. In fact, they are well on their way to achieving the goals I set for them. Basically, if other factors in your life mandate that you have to move on, in this case at least it didn’t jeopardize the quality of the game.”  – David Sears

Sears will remain an advisor to the team, along with other industry experts, “to provide subject matter and expertise to the studio,” writes Tom.

H-Hour: World’s Elite is still on course to hit Early Access on Steam this March, 2015. According to the latest news, the game is “now in full production”.

Thanks, xPsychopath410x, for the tip!