Take-Two reportedly attempted to save Perfect Dark's reboot, but discussions have collapsed

Microsoft

Perfect Dark's reboot was cancelled amid mass layoffs at Xbox in July as Microsoft shuttered developer The Initiative.

It has been claimed that publisher Take-Two Interactive has attempted to save Xbox’s Perfect Dark reboot after it was scrapped back in July. However, discussions have fell apart regarding the ownership of the IP.

The details:

Back in July, Microsoft confirmed that it had shuttered first-party studio The Initiative, which was working on a reboot of the Perfect Dark series alongside Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics. With the closure of the studio, the project was cancelled, eventually resulting in a wave of layoffs at Crystal Dynamics last month.
As reported by Bloomberg, after its cancellation under Microsoft, leadership at The Initiative and Embracer-owned Crystal Dynamics were given the opportunity to try and find funding for Perfect Dark elsewhere. According to the publication, Embracer was close to securing a deal with Take-Two, which would see the latter purchase the project from Xbox, fund its development, then publish the game.
However, the deal is now said to have fallen apart as all parties involved struggled to come to terms with who would own the Perfect Dark IP in the long-term. Further details regarding the discussions have not been revealed by the anonymous source and representatives for Embracer, Xbox and Take-Two have all declined to comment.
Debuting in 2000, the original Perfect Dark was seen as a follow-up to Rare’s legendary GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64, with a much less loved sequel, Perfect Dark Zero, launching alongside the Xbox 360 back in 2005. Despite the mixed reception to PDZ, the ill-fated reboot was announced in 2020 and later shown off last year, with years of internal issues such as changes in management and direction plaguing its development.

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