Xbox’s Perfect Dark reboot, first announced in 2022, has been canceled. Its developer, The Initiative, is also shutting down, Microsoft has confirmed.
First reported by Windows Central and corroborated by Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, the cancellation of Perfect Dark and closing of The Initiative come as part of Microsoft’s latest round of layoffs, which are affecting an estimated 4% of the company’s workforce. That translates to around 9,000 people losing their jobs, many of them across Microsoft’s various gaming studios.
The Initiative was formed in 2018 and based in Santa Monica. Billed as a „AAAA“ studio, it was led by former Crystal Dynamics studio head Darrel Gallagher and made up of developers from Respawn, BioWare, Naughty Dog, and more. In 2021, The Initiative announced it would partner with Crystal Dynamics, developer of the most recent Tomb Raider games, to assist on the Perfect Dark reboot.