With the Xbox Games Showcase less than month away, rumors have been circulating about what could appear at the event. Gears 6 and Call of Duty: Black Ops Gulf War are favorites, but The Initiative’s Perfect Dark may be another. After reports from Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb about it being in “rough shape,” insider Nate the Hate said it could make an appearance.
Speaking to Spawn Wave on the latest DirectXbox podcast, he also affirms that the project isn’t doing too badly. “I fully expect that we will see Perfect Dark next month and that some of the more recent rumors may have been outdated information, perhaps because I have been hearing things this week that Perfect Dark is not in that bad of a state.”
Grubb responded to this on Twitter. “Yeah, since talking about it, I’ve heard it could show up at the Xbox Showcase as well.” He added, “As I said on the Bombcast, I don’t usually say when I hear a game is ‘looking rough’ because someone is bound to say that about every game in development, AND it’s usually one or two people’s perception.” Regarding why Grubb mentioned it at all, he replied, “Because it was relative to the conversation we were having.”
Whether it turns out to be true or not, there’s no denying the lack of updates on the project nearly 3.5 years after its announcement. There have also been multiple departures, not to mention development restarting on Unreal Engine 5 in 2022. A report from IGN last year indicated that the title is still about two to three years off from release (and it may follow an episodic format).
Interestingly, Nate the Hate doesn’t feel it necessary to raise alarm bells if Perfect Dark doesn’t appear at next month’s showcase. “I wouldn’t sound any alarms until the end of the year. If we go the entire year without seeing Perfect Dark in any form, then I think that conversation of concern has to come up.” This tracks with Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty stating in June 2023 that there would be a gameplay deep dive for the title by 2024 end.
Perfect Dark is in development for Xbox Series X/S and PC. Stay tuned for more updates in the meantime.