Many hopeful fans wanted to see a Perfect Dark reboot come back to life. Microsoft had suddenly put a stop to it not long ago. Now, it seems that hope has faded even more.
Jason Schreier, a games writer and analyst for Bloomberg, shared some insider information. He reported that Take-Two Interactive had previously talked with The Initiative. Their discussions were about funding and distributing the Perfect Dark game that had already been canceled. This whole effort came about because of internal restructuring, which led to many layoffs and game projects being shut down.
Sources said that The Initiative, along with Crystal Dynamics, spent over two months looking for new partners. They talked with many different publishers. The goal was to find money to keep developing the game. This search eventually led to a potential new deal. It involved Take-Two, The Initiative, and Embracer, which is the company that owns Crystal Dynamics. But in the end, this deal didn’t work out.
The reason the deal failed came down to ownership. The three companies could not agree on who would own the Perfect Dark name in the long run. They could not settle the issue of who would hold the rights to the franchise for the future. When asked about these talks, Embracer, Xbox (which oversees The Initiative), and Take-Two all chose not to comment.
The Perfect Dark reboot was first announced in 2020 at The Game Awards. It was supposed to be the first big project from The Initiative, a studio founded in 2018. The game was canceled by Microsoft in the middle of last year. With this latest funding attempt falling through, the chances of seeing the game return are now even slimmer.