Xbox’s Perfect Dark reboot, first introduced in 2022, has been canceled. Its developer, The Initiative, can also be shutting down, Microsoft has confirmed.
First reported by Windows Central and corroborated by Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, the cancellation of Perfect Dark and shutting of The Initiative come as a part of Microsoft’s newest spherical of layoffs, that are affecting an estimated 4% of the corporate’s workforce. That interprets to round 9,000 individuals shedding their jobs, lots of them throughout Microsoft’s numerous gaming studios.
The Initiative was fashioned in 2018 and based mostly in Santa Monica. Billed as a “AAAA” studio, it was led by former Crystal Dynamics studio head Darrel Gallagher and made up of builders from Respawn, BioWare, Naughty Canine, and extra. In 2021, The Initiative introduced it will associate with Crystal Dynamics, developer of the latest Tomb Raider video games, to help on the Perfect Dark reboot.
Gamers bought their first take a look at Perfect Dark gameplay in 2024 as a part of that 12 months’s Xbox Video games Showcase. The trailer confirmed Perfect Dark to be a first-person shooter with immersive sim parts, as collection protagonist Joanna Dark used devices, stealth, and melee takedowns to finish her targets, all of the whereas hinting at a larger conspiracy for gamers to uncover. Regardless of the gameplay showcase, Perfect Dark didn’t ever obtain a launch window.
A report from shortly earlier than the debut of Perfect Dark’s gameplay trailer acknowledged the reboot of the spy FPS was in unhealthy form and that the venture hadn’t “actually come collectively” regardless of Crystal Dynamics being introduced in to assist growth.
Perfect Dark and The Initiative are only a few of the video games and studios to be affected by this new wave of layoffs at Microsoft. Whereas on the time of writing The Initiative is the one studio closure introduced, different studios like The Elder Scrolls On-line developer ZeniMax On-line, Blizzard, Forza developer Flip 10 and even Name of Obligation Black Ops 7 developer Raven Software program have additionally seen layoffs.
Xbox Recreation Studios head Matt Booty in an inner electronic mail shared by Home windows Central confirmed Perfect Dark, Uncommon’s Everwild, and a number of other different unannounced initiatives, certainly one of which is reported to be ZeniMax On-line’s subsequent MMORPG, have all been canceled as a part of the layoffs.
“We have now made the choice to cease growth of Perfect Dark and Everwild in addition to wind down a number of unannounced initiatives throughout our portfolio,” Booty writes within the electronic mail. “As a part of this, we’re closing certainly one of our studios, The Initiative. These choices, together with different modifications throughout our groups, replicate a broader effort to regulate priorities and focus sources to arrange our groups for larger success inside a altering trade panorama. We didn’t make these decisions frivolously, as every venture and workforce characterize years of effort, creativeness, and dedication.”
It is simply the newest spherical of layoffs for Microsoft in recent times. In 2023, Microsoft laid off an estimated 10,000 individuals. Following its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft laid off an estimated 1,900 workers in 2024. That very same 12 months it shut down 4 Bethesda studios, together with Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks.