The Perfect Dark reboot Microsoft cancelled as part of their mass layoffs in July could reportedly have been “revived” under new publisher Take-Two, had talks over a deal between the two sides and Embracer Group not fallen through.
That’s according to a report from Bloomberg, who claim that Microsoft and Take-Two’s failure to reach an agreement is what preceded the unspecified number of layoffs at Crystal Dynamics last week. It’d be nice if we lived in a world where bigwigs shaking hands wasn’t sometimes a thing workers have to pin their hopes of retaining their livelihoods on.
Things get even more galling when you read what Bloomberg cite as at least part of the reason the talks fell through. What’d happen with long-term ownership of the Perfect Dark series was reportedly a sticking point. Yes, that would be the long-term ownership of a series Microsoft clearly saw so much potential in that they’ve just canned a reboot of it, and moved to shutter developers The Initiative in one fell swoop.
Needless to say, execs not coming to terms over who gets to add Perfect Dark to the list of names tucked away in their dusty vaults would be a pretty depressing thing to have contributed to the reboot’s fate and subsequent layoffs. Reps for Xbox, Take-Two and Embracer all declined to comment when asked by Bloomberg.
SCOOP: Perfect Dark was almost revived.
The game’s developers were close to a deal with Take-Two to fund and publish the game following its cancellation by Xbox in July, sources say, but negotiations fell through, leading to layoffs at Crystal Dynamics last week. www.bloomberg.com/news/article…
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— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier.bsky.social) 2 September 2025 at 18:39
I suppose we should be minutely grateful Microsoft even gave the reboot a chance to land elsewhere with fresh funding that’d allow its developers to keep their jobs. Bloomberg’s report notes that leaders at co-developers The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics spent two months discussing that possibility with multiple parties.
The Perfect Dark reboot was one of several games either cancelled or left looking for new funding as a result of Microsoft’s recent mass cuts, which saw roughly 9,100 employees let go. Rare’s Everwild and an unnamed MMO at Elder Scrolls Online developer ZeniMax were in the former camp, while an FPS at Romero Games was in the latter.
