Perfect Dark Reboot Is Allegedly In Bad Shape

The Perfect Dark reboot that was announced for PC and Xbox Series X|S is reportedly experiencing some shaky development woes right now.

Jeff Grubb took time on yesterday's Giant Bombcast to speak about upcoming Xbox projects. These included Perfect Dark, and things are apparently not looking good.

"The fallout from [layoffs], been hearing more and more...been hearing for years that Perfect Dark is in a rough state; it sounds like it's in a very rough state," he said. "And it doesn't sound like it's really come together in any way since [its announcement] and Crystal Dynamics coming on board to come help on that."

Xbox allegedly doesn't know if it wants to take the first-person shooter route for Perfect Dark reboot either. The series has historically been a first-person shooter with the exception of the top-down isometric Game Boy Color prequel.

The Perfect Dark reboot was announced back in 2020, and is still seemingly early in development. In 2021, Crystal Dynamics joined The Initiative to help out with development. When Crystal Dynamics went through layoffs last year, it ensured that Perfect Dark's development wouldn't be affected.

Fans are worried about Xbox's status given that Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog Games, and Roundhouse Studios were shut down yesterday. Several developers voiced their concerns too, such as Moon Studios CEO Thomas Mahler. Moon Studios, the developer behind the Ori series, avoided acquisition talks by larger publishers due to potential layoffs and closures.