Canceled Xbox Game Perfect Dark Eulogized By Top Boss: "I Leave With Nothing But Pride"
By Eddie Makuch
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By Eddie Makuch
Microsoft recently cut thousands of jobs as part of its latest round of mass layoffs, and as part of the drawback, the company also canceled the new Perfect Dark and closed its developer, The Initiative.
The studio's top boss, Darrell Gallagher, has now written a eulogy of sorts for Perfect Dark and The Initiative, while also confirming his own departure from Microsoft.
"After an incredible journey, my time at Xbox has come to a close with the wind-down of Perfect Dark and The Initiative. I couldn't be prouder of the talented and passionate team I had the privilege assemble and lead," Gallagher said on LinkedIn. "Together, we set out to reimagine an iconic franchise and poured creativity, craft, and dedication into every step of the way. The public reception and excitement for what we were building has been inspiring and deeply appreciated by all of us."
Gallagher said the "spirit, talent, and achievements" of the developers will live on "well beyond the project."
"I leave with nothing but pride in what we accomplished together and excitement for what's next--both for myself and for the amazing developers I was fortunate enough to work with. Here's to new adventures and to celebrating the journey we've shared," Gallagher said.
Gallagher has worked in the video game industry for decades, having spent time at Rockstar Games as a lead artist, then at THQ as studio art director. He later joined Crystal Dynamics and was the art director and later head of studio before being promoted to become head of product development and studios at Square Enix. He joined Activision in 2016 and was a senior vice president and head of development for various Call of Duty games. In 2018, he joined Xbox to establish The Initiative and kick off work on the reimagining of Perfect Dark.
A report from shortly before the debut of Perfect Dark's gameplay trailer stated the reboot of the spy FPS was in bad shape and that the project hadn't "really come together" despite co-developer Crystal Dynamics being brought in to help development. GTA parent company Take-Two apparently almost stepped in to save Perfect Dark, but a deal didn't come together in the end.
Perfect Dark and The Initiative are just a few of the games and studios to be affected by the latest wave of layoffs at Microsoft. The Initiative was the only studio that was closed, but other studios like The Elder Scrolls Online developer ZeniMax Online, Blizzard, Forza developer Turn 10, and even Call of Duty Black Ops 7 developer Raven Software also saw layoffs. Rare's Everwild was also canceled.
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