The story of The Initiative, which is currently working on the Perfect Dark reboot along with Crystal Dynamics, becomes even more curious with time. Following game director Dan Neuburger leaving the project, reports emerged of numerous departures in the same window. These were reportedly due to disagreements with the studio’s structure.
One school of thought allegedly wanted to hire people, and the other wanted to stay small and “build sort of high-quality indie level games,” as per Jez Corden of Windows Central. It seemed that those remaining with The Initiative (along with Microsoft) were happy with the former, and things seemed fine.
However, in another twist, VGC’s Andy Robinson revealed that the “flood of departures very much is sign of a problem.” Speaking to “many current and former employees”, he revealed that the multi-studio setup hadn’t caused issues since there was always the “intention to partner with an experienced dev.” Instead, “many seemingly had issues with Initiative leadership.”
In a follow-up, he noted, “I believe Crystal Dynamics coming on board will be positive for the project, partly because it’s studio head Darrell Gallagher’s old team. But the number of messages I have received suggests there have definitely been cultural issues there.” He also said that few “directly blamed Xbox leadership” and said it “speaks volumes that many Initiative leads have moved to other Xbox studios.”
What these “cultural” issues may be is unknown. Multiple sources reportedly suggested to Robinson in March that Crystal Dynamics is essentially leading the project. How this may factor into issues with The Initiative’s leadership is also unknown, but there’s seemingly more going on than suggested by Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty’s recent statement.
Perfect Dark is in development for Xbox Series X/S and PC. No release date has been announced or gameplay showcased to date.