Following today’s news of the Embracer Group’s plans to acquire the majority of Square Enix’s western development studios, some have been wondering where this leaves things for the Perfect Dark reboot. The questions follow news that the Embracer Group will be purchasing Eidos Montreal, Square Enix Montreal and Crystal Dynamics, the studio that had most recently made a commitment to work with Xbox studio The Initiative on the reboot of sci-fi spy shooter Perfect Dark.
Although no mention was made of Crystal Dynamics’ work on Perfect Dark in the official press release from Embracer, it seems that the commitment made by the studio will be honoured post-completion of the Embracer deal.
The Initiative has shared a tweet this morning seemingly confirming that the team at Crystal Dynamics will continue to work with them on the Perfect Dark reboot as development partners. This will come as a relief to those who have been wondering what exactly is going on with Perfect Dark, after a lot of radio silence on progress and some concerning reports on staff culture at The Initiative itself.
As reported a couple of months ago, things at The Initiative have been particularly turbulent, following a number of staff exits over the last twelve months. This includes the resignation of the game’s director Dan Neuberg. Crystal Dynamics signed up to co-develop Perfect Dark with The Initiative back in September 2021 and appears, in effect, to be pretty much now taking charge of the ongoing development of the game.
While today’s news continues to pose questions for a number of game franchises by the studios in question, it seems that progress is still going ahead regardless of Crystal Dynamics’ new owners. Despite all the upheaval so far, fans of Perfect Dark can still hold out hope for the reboot of their much-loved game.
Until there’s further information on Perfect Dark, we’ll be keeping one ear to the ground for updates.