Earlier this year, developer The Initiative was closed during the massive lay-offs at Microsoft, which resulted in a reduction of 9,000 positions from the company at large. As part of this, the game The Initiative was structurally set up to develop a reboot of Rare’s Perfect Dark franchise, was canceled. The game had been stated to have had a troubled development since it was announced in 2020, with it largely going dark after that point until it finally reemerged with a trailer at the Xbox Showcase in 2024.
In a recent report from Bloomberg, however, it was stated that the game was not “fully abandoned” when The Initiative was closed earlier this year. Leadership from both The Initiative and Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics, who were brought in 2021 to help with developing the Title, spent the following two months looking for a new publisher and funding source.
Several parties expressed some interest in taking on the role of funding the continued development of Perfect Dark; however, the most likely publisher to have gotten the role seems to have been Take-Two, publisher of titles like Grand Theft Auto. Despite it seeming like the two parties are having talks in hopes of coming to an agreement, these talks didn’t materialize in a deal. It was suggested that the core reason it fell through is due to disagreements over the long-term ownership of the intellectual property.
As a result of this breakdown, Crystal Dynamics also had layoffs last week, as it became clear the project was not going to reenter development. Crystal Dynamics was sold to Embracer Group by Square Enix in 2022, with Embracer having become well known at this point for a period of overspending that has resulted in widespread cancellations of projects and studio closures since then. Despite that, Crystal Dynamics is developing a new entry in the Tomb Raider franchise, with not much showcased on the project since it was announced.
Had Perfect Dark been saved, this would not have been the first franchise to survive Microsoft canceling it and closing its studio. In 2024, Tango Gameworks was closed by the Publisher despite having released the well-received Hi-Fi Rush the year before. Shortly after the studio was closed, PUBG Publisher Krafton stepped in to save the company, acquired them and the game, announcing plans to have the studio develop a sequel.
Remember to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Bluesky to keep up to date on everything we have going on!
