Xbox Game Studios, The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics’ upcoming reboot of Perfect Dark is allegedly in “a very rough state”.
Speaking during the latest episode of Giant Bombcast, Jeff Grubb, who is known for his sources within the game industry, talked about the recent layoffs and studio closures at Microsoft. He mentioned that he’s been hearing for years that Perfect Dark is in a very rough state. Based on what he heard recently, the game has not come together in any way since its announcement, and even after Crystal Dynamics was brought on board to help with development.
As for the first-person nature of gameplay, based on what Grubb heard, it sounded like the development team doesn’t know if the current state of Perfect Dark is what it wanted to do with the game.
Furthermore, RPGSite’s Alex Donaldson took to Twitter/X to reveal that he has some “crazy” stories to share about the development of Perfect Dark. However, he has not put what he knows in print out of respect for a development team trying really hard to “push a boulder up a steep hill”. After the recent studio closures at Xbox, however, his patience is running thin. Perhaps we’ll soon get to hear these stories, after all.
Recently, a job listing for the position of Technical Art Director at The Initiative revealed that Perfect Dark, provided it sees the light of day, will feature a Quality and a Performance mode. The new recruit’s responsibilities would include working with Technical and Art Directors to get the highest visual quality out of Unreal Engine for PC and Xbox, for both Performance and Quality engine modes. Additionally, the LinkedIn profile for Adam Lawson, former Senior Gameplay Animator on Perfect Dark at Crystal Dynamics, stated that the game will feature both “
