The reboot of Perfect Dark continues to have a development that is far from the best, since according to the latest news circulating on the street, the name is lately “in a very complicated situation”.
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This supposed update on Joanna Dark’s return was provided by famed video game journalist Jeff Grubb on episode 839 of the Giant Bomb podcast, Giant Bombcast.
Amid discussions about Microsoft’s resolution to shut down Redfall and Hi-Fi Rush studios, Grubb at one point expressed doubts about the company’s prospects for helping the many titles that will be unveiled at the upcoming Xbox Showcase in June, telling fellow panelists Jan Ochoa: Jeff Bakalar and Niki Grayson: “I feel like maybe it’s worth just waiting and seeing [if Microsoft actually helps those games] instead of getting excited about a lot of things. “
Elaborating on his doubts about the long-term of Microsoft’s games, Grubb later revealed, “You know, they’ve already announced a bunch of games, and in the aftermath of that, I’ve been hearing more and more about them for years. , this Perfect Dark is in bad shape.
“It looks like it’s in a very complicated state,” he added. “It doesn’t seem like it’s gone one way or the other, [even with] Crystal Dynamics coming on board to help work on that. “
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According to VGC, Grubb’s claim was later corroborated through Alex Donaldson, owner of the RPG site and deputy editor of VG24/7, as well as Did You Know Gaming?, contributor Liam Robertson.
“lmao,” Donaldson laughed in X. I have some crazy stories about the progression of this game that I haven’t posted out of respect for a team struggling to push a stone up a steep hill. But I’m running out of patience.
On his own initiative, Robertson, who in terms of video game scoops learned of Scalebound’s cancellation long before it was made public, said: “From what little I’ve heard about the progression of the new Perfect Dark, it turns out like a full-length video in the making. Just a big, protracted disaster.
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The first Perfect Dark, a sci-fi FPS directed by Rare in 2000, based on the fate of GoldenEye 007.
A prequel, Perfect Dark Zero, released in 2005, was followed by a remaster of the original game in 2010 for Xbox 360 and the announcement of the aforementioned reboot at The Game Awards in 2020.
Unfortunately for enthusiastic fans, aside from the confirmation in 2021 that Crystal Dynamics has been used for the game’s core progression team, Xbox Game Studios’ new department, The Initiative, in its progression, the reboot hasn’t gotten any major updates since its initial release. disclose. .
However, the same can’t be said for The Initiative, as after the game’s announcement in 2020, the team reportedly suffered a “fast and furious” exodus of developers from its ranks, adding design director Drew Murray and game director Dan Neuburger.
In light of The Initiative’s developer hemorrhage, the team made a total turnaround in 2022, with Xbox Studios head Matt Booty saying that their past struggles were the result of developing difficulties to “start a new studio. “
In 2023, an IGN report from Rebekah Valentine revealed that despite the addition of Crystal Dynamics to the game’s progression team and The Initiative’s reboot, Perfect Dark Reboot still fails to get off the ground, a developer reportedly revealed to her that the game’s announcement was so ill-timed that its core mechanics were still in progress at the time of its trailer’s release.
This lack of progress was demonstrated by Valentine through a total of 13 resources “familiar with the game’s development”, all of which admitted that despite initial and grandiose hopes of making it a “AAAA” title, little progress had been made on the game. . Until now.
Sources also claimed that Crystal Dynamics had discovered that evidence of concept was missing for 2021, and that almost the entire task needed to be “reworked,” leading to its progression being completely restarted the following year.
To that end, the resources predicted that by the time of their interview with Valentine in 2023, the Perfect Dark remake would be at least two to three years away from release.
In a rare break from their silence on the title, the initial spouse, Sure Affinity, and Xbox itself later denied the claims of IGN’s sources.
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