Attempts to secure a future for the cancelled Perfect Dark reboot have fallen through, in what’s become another stain on Xbox’s legacy.
Microsoft might own a vast chunk of the games industry, following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard and Bethesda, but its reputation as a publisher is marred by frequent game cancellations, poor management, and widespread layoffs.
One of their most famous failures was Scalebound from PlatinumGames, which was cancelled in 2017, but over recent years the company has shuttered studios including Arkane Austin, Alpha Dog Games, and Tango Gameworks. In July, Microsoft cancelled a wave of titles which have been in development for years, including Rare’s Everwild and the Perfect Dark reboot.
With cancelled games, there’s always a chance they could be revived under another publisher, if a deal is struck – and when it comes to Perfect Dark, that almost became a reality according to a new report.
As reported by Bloomberg, developer Crystal Dynamics, who were co-developing Perfect Dark with the now defunct Xbox studio The Initiative, have been forced to ‘fully abandon’ the project after a deal fell through with publisher Take-Two Interactive.
Embracer, who own Crystal Dynamics, were reportedly close to striking a deal with Take-Two, in which they would purchase Perfect Dark from Xbox, who own the rights.
This would mean Take-Two would fund and publish the title instead of Microsoft, but the talks apparently collapsed partly because the companies ‘were unable to come to terms over long-term ownership of the Perfect Dark franchise’.
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Following the deal’s collapse, Crystal Dynamics announced last week it was laying off an unknown number of staff, with only a vague explanation as to why.
‘Today we made the very difficult decision to part ways with a number of our talented colleagues as the result of evolving business conditions,’ a LinkedIn post read. ‘This decision was not made lightly. It was necessary, however, to ensure the long-term health of our studio and core creative priorities in a continually shifting market.’
They added: ‘To our teams, players, and partners, thank you for your continued support as we build a creative, sustainable, and resilient tomorrow together. This includes the future of Tomb Raider, which remains unaffected by this decision.’
The situation is especially frustrating considering Microsoft has barely done anything with the Perfect Dark IP since acquiring Rare. Aside from a remaster of the original game in 2010, the last Perfect Dark project from Xbox was 2005’s sub-par Perfect Dark Zero.
This reboot was a chance to bring back the franchise in a big way but now it’s seemingly been canned entirely and is unlikely to ever return, or at least not for many years.
Last month, Xbox also ended development on Contraband from Avalanche Studios, with the team now ‘evaluating the project’s future’.
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