In a report by VGC, the Perfect Dark reboot could still be years away from release due to a wave of “fast and furious” departures of senior development staff within the last year. According to the report, analysis of developer The Initiative’s LinkedIn page reveals that around 34 people have quit the company in the last 12 months, including game director Dan Neuburger, design director Drew Murray, lead level designer Chris O’Neill, principal world builder Jolyon Myers, two system designers, three former God of War designers, the two most senior writers, the technical director, lead gameplay engineer, lead animator, QA lead and more. This drops the total amount of people at The Initiative to less than 50, according to the report.
The report claims that multiple former senior developers cited lack of creative autonomy and slow development progress as the reason for their departures, and that project momentum has been “heavily affected” by the wave of exits. The former employees expressed frustration at the situation and felt that they weren’t being heard on important issues relating to development priorities, project planning and team staffing. As a result, they claim that development has progressed “painfully” slowly, and were surprised that Microsoft has been so lenient with the lack of progress.
Sources claimed that the lack of solid company culture could be attributed to the fact that studio head Darrell Gallagher and recently departed game director Dan Neuburger, who were formerly studio head and game director at Crystal Dynamics, were trying to make games as they always had with top-down direction, while many of the employees were expecting a more bottom-up approach to development. This could be one of the reasons why Crystal Dynamics has been brought in to assist with the development of Perfect Dark, as they would likely be more familiar with the way Gallagher and Neuburger worked, making progress smoother.
It can also be assumed that Crystal Dynamics has been brought in to fill the massive gaps left by the departure of Initiative employees. Despite this, Gallagher is still confident in his team despite the industry-wide staffing challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic:
“It’s no small task to build a studio and reinvent a beloved franchise. In creating The Initiative, we set out to leverage co-development partnerships to achieve our ambitions, and we’re really excited about all the progress we’re seeing with our relationship with Crystal Dynamics. In this journey, it’s not uncommon for there to be staffing changes, especially during a time of global upheaval over the last two years, and there’s plenty more work in front of us to deliver a fantastic Perfect Dark experience to our players. We wish all our former colleagues the very best, and I’m confident in the team we have in place, the new talent joining, and we can’t wait to share more with the fans.”
With all the departures and the addition of Crystal Dynamics into the mix, it would not be surprising if a soft reboot of the game has happened, sources claim. This could mean that the release of a new Perfect Dark could still be years away.
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