Official news on The Initiative’s Perfect Dark has been fairly limited since its announcement in December 2020. However, reports of numerous departures and disagreements on the studio’s structure have been making the rounds recently. VGC reported that half of the core development team had left in the past year. Windows Central’s Jez Cordon broke down how the studio was meant to have a sort of “flat structure” but this approach wasn’t working out given expectations (among other factors).
Crystal Dynamics’ involvement has been contentious, especially given the more traditional set-up and structure with Daryl Gallagher serving as lead on the entire project. According to VGC’s Andy Robinson in a recent tweet, two more departures have been reported with a few more being corroborated. However, he noted that, “If it wasn’t obvious already, multiple sources have now suggested to me that Crystal Dynamics is essentially leading this project.”
Robinson added in a follow-up tweet that, “The plan as I understand it was always to work with a co-developer, yes, which I believe it was doing with Certain Affinity until last year, as two separate teams.” However, sources claim that the relationship with Crystal Dynamics is “completely different.”
As Cordon noted recently, however, development “sounds like they’re in a good place now” and moving towards a “sort of common goal.” Time will tell if it results in a good game but either way, it may be a while until the game releases. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.
Perfect Dark is currently in development for Xbox Series X/S and PC.
Initiative update: I've added 2 more confirmed departures to the list (and corroborating a few more).
If it wasn't obvious already, multiple sources have now suggested to me that Crystal Dynamics is essentially leading this project.https://t.co/LZPQDNJvIJ
— Andy Robinson (@Andy_VGC) March 16, 2022
The plan as I understand it was always to work with a co-developer, yes, which I believe it was doing with Certain Affinity until last year, as 2 separate teams. But the CD relationship is completely different according to my sources. https://t.co/tBICTcFCel
— Andy Robinson (@Andy_VGC) March 16, 2022
