Perfect Dark, canceled in July amidst a wave of layoffs at Microsoft, almost got a second chance at life thanks to Take-Two, according to a new report. However, talks to see the game be revived have apparently fallen through.
According to Bloomberg (and corroborated by VGC), Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics, which was working with the now shuttered Xbox studio The Initiative to develop the Perfect Dark reboot, could have continued working on the game. Crystal Dynamics’ parent company, the Embracer Group, had spent the last two months since its cancellation looking for a publisher, and most recently had looked to strike a deal with publisher Take-Two to purchase the game from Microsoft.
The report states that the deal for Take-Two to take over the funding and publishing of Perfect Dark fell apart at least partially because all the parties involved were not able to come to terms over who would have long-term ownership of the Perfect Dark franchise, which currently still resides with Microsoft. Crystal Dynamics laid off an unspecified number of staff last week as a result of the deal with Take-Two collapsing, according to Bloomberg.
Perfect Dark was announced in 2020 as a reboot of the dormant sci-fi shooter franchise to be in development at Microsoft’s first “AAAA” studio The Initiative. In 2021, it was announced Crystal Dynamics would step in to help as the game’s co-developer. After years of radio silence, a gameplay trailer for Perfect Dark, revealing it to be a first-person shooter with what looked to be immersive-sim elements, was revealed in 2024 as part of an Xbox showcase.
A report from shortly before Perfect Dark’s gameplay-trailer debut stated the reboot was in rough shape and hadn’t come together, despite assistance from Crystal Dynamics.
Microsoft’s July layoffs saw the tech giant reduce its headcount by an estimated 4%, resulting in around 9,000 people losing their jobs. Among them were those who worked at The Initiative, which was shuttered as a result of the layoffs. Other games canceled alongside Perfect Dark included a new MMORPG from The Elder Scrolls Online developer ZeniMax Online and Rare’s long-in-development Everwild.
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