The recently cancelled Perfect Dark was nearly saved by none other than Take-Two Interactive, the parent of Rockstar Games, according to a new report.
Jason Schreier of Bloomberg has the pertinent deets[1], publishing a new article which explains how the game was almost saved following it being one of the victims in Microsoft’s brutal culling a few months back.
According to Jason, Crystal Dynamics – which became a co-developer of Perfect Dark in 2021, alongside The Initiative (now shuttered)[2] – had to lay off staff last week after the game was fully laid to rest.
The report details that Embracer, the group which owns Crystal Dynamics, nearly managed to come to a deal with Take-Two Interactive. Apparently, the idea was that Take-Two would purchase the game from its owner, Microsoft, and would then fund and publish it. However, a deal was never struck because the parties couldn’t come to agreement over the long-term ownership.
It sounds a lot like Take-Two wanted to purchase the IP itself, while Microsoft perhaps wanted to retain the rights and only license it out to Take-Two.
Whatever the exact details of the failed talks are, it seems like Perfect Dark is now well and truly dead, unless some kind of last-second deal can be made or a new funding partner appears on the scene.
References
- ^ Jason Schreier of Bloomberg has the pertinent deets (www.bloomberg.com)
- ^ (now shuttered) (wolfsgamingblog.com)