In December 2020, Microsoft first announced its plans to reboot the Perfect Dark first person shooter franchise that was originally developed by Rare for the Nintendo 64 console in 2000. The team behind the reboot was announced to be The Initiative, an all-new Microsoft internal game development team that was first announced back in 2018.
Since that reveal 2 1/2 years ago, there's been little info on the game's development, and it didn't make an appearance at Microsoft's recent Xbox Games Showcase. Today, IGN posted an extensive article on the past and current status of the Perfect Dark reboot. In short, we should not expect to see the game released for quite some time.
According to the story, which used 13 sources who have worked on the game in various forms and capacities, the reasons behind the issues with Perfect Dark's development are many. One thing that was revealed was that The Initiative worked with another developer, Certain Affinity, for the game's first few years. Certain Affinity has provided content for many games including titles in the Call of Duty and Halo franchises.
However, it would appear that the relashipop between the two developers had its problems as the months and years of development continued. IGN stated:
Both Certain Affinity and The Initiative employees told me there was a seeming mismatch between Certain Affinity’s experience building focused, specific elements of clearly defined games as instructed, and The Initiative’s desire to have a creative partner to bounce ideas off of. What’s more, The Initiative was a very small studio still hiring up, and Certain Affinity was a large, established studio whose team vastly outnumbered The Initiative’s.
In the end, Certain Affinity stepped away from working on the Perfect Dark reboot. In September 2021, Microsoft announced that Crystal Dynamics, best known for its work on the Tomb Raider franchise, would co-develop the Perfect Dark reboot with The Initiative.
The IGN article also describes other problems with the game's development, including a lack of direction from its leaders, an exodus of talent from The Initiative, and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The good news is that at the moment the game seems to finally be on the right track with The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics working together well. The bad news is that the Unreal Engine 5 game is still in a pre-production state, and it could be two to three years, at least, before the game is finally launched.
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