Developer David Wu, who co-founded Toronto game developer Pseudo Interactive, passed away earlier in the month. The news of his passing was confirmed by Compulsion Games head Guillaume Provost, who said that Wu died shortly before his 48th birthday.
“Feeling grateful for the time I was able to share with David Wu, my friend, former boss and the only person for whom mathematics were truly malleable,” wrote Provost. “He instilled cultural values – the importance of belonging, collaboration and well-being – that live on with the many teams we subsequently migrated to, the studios we started, and the games we published.”
In 1995, Wu co-founded Pseudo with Rich Hilmer and Daniel Posner. The studio, which developed 2006’s Cel Damage and Sega’s Full Auto franchise, shut down in 2008. Later that year, Wu joined 343 Industries as a technology director on Halo 4.
Pseudo was revived in 2021, with Wu returning to the studio as a lead developer. On the website for Pseudo’s game Conquest and Virtue, the studio wrote a memorial to honor him on its front page.
“David was hard at work on the game before his untimely death and we will miss him terribly,” said Pseudo. “To those of us at Pseudo Interactive, he was not simply a gifted lead developer and collaborator, but also a mentor and a dear friend. There are not words to describe the loss of this brilliant man – we will miss him terribly.”
Tributes to Wu can be written and delivered to his loved ones here.