Perfect Dark, a reboot being developed by the Initiative, is one of the many casualties of a new round of layoffs at Microsoft that includes 4% of their global workforce across all of their global divisions. These layoffs are greatly impacting Xbox, with the developer behind Perfect Dark being closed, and several other games, such as Rare’s Everwild, which has spent 11 years in development up to this point, also being canceled.
Perfect Dark was set to be a revival of the long-dormant franchise, which last saw release as an Xbox 360 launch title in 2005 with Perfect Dark Zero. A remaster of the original Perfect Dark was released in 2010 for the Xbox Live Arcade. The Initiative was established in 2018 to handle the revival, with talent such as Tomb Raider’s Darrell Gallagher at the helm. Cystal Dynamics, his former development team, was also working on the title through a partnership with Microsoft, which has now been concluded.
The Initiative is being closed as a direct result of the game’s cancellation, with Microsoft stating they will work with laid-off individuals to provide Severance and support. They also encouraged those affected to apply for other positions within Xbox, and that they would receive priority consideration.
This news was announced via an internal memo from Xbox Games Studio head Matt Booty, who stated that Perfect Dark, Everwild, alongside several other unannounced titles, have been cancelled. According to suggestions, one of these unannounced games was a new MMORPG codenamed Blackbird from Zenimax Online, a title meant as a successor to The Elder Scrolls Online. As of now, The Initiative is the only studio closing in this current round of layoffs, but a multitude of studios will be affected to varying degrees.
Previously showcased games, in particular games featured during the Xbox Games Showcase in June, will be unaffected. This includes Clockwork Revolution and The Outer Worlds 2, with the latter set to release later this year. Other titles that have spent some time in development limbo, such as Fable and State of Decay 3, are also “safe” according to sources close to the projects. In addition, planned next-generation hardware from Microsoft appears to be mostly unaffected as well.
This is not the first round of layoffs to hit Microsoft this year, having now terminated 15,000 employees since the start of 2025. Last year also saw the company make multiple cuts to game studios, closing Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin, before ultimately selling Tango to PUBG publisher Krafton.
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