a chaotic development, half of the staff would have resigned

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a chaotic development half of the staff would have resigned

Remember, just yesterday, we learned that Dan Neuburger, the game director of the Perfect Dark reboot, had left his post last February. Information relayed by his recently updated LinkedIn profile and which seemed to hide a more important problem, namely a massive exodus of the thinking heads of the project. Indeed, the departure of Dan Neuburger followed that of Drew Murray, lead designer on the game, who resigned a few months earlier to return to Insomniac Games, his heart studio. These two departures from key positions was in reality only the tree that hid the forest. In effect, according to our colleagues from VGC who spoke with some members of The Initiative studio, no less than 34 people resigned, all from very important positions in the project. Game Director, Level Designer, Artistic Director, Chief Animator and even scriptwriter, as much to tell you that the development of this Perfect Dark is in full chaos.

IS CRYSTAL DYNAMICS (AND MICROSOFT) FAULT?

According to the comments relayed by VGC, these massive departures are an epidermal reaction to the arrival of the Cristal Dynamics studio in the development, commissioned by Microsoft to support these video game veterans in the design of this FPS which wants to be different from the others. A war of egos, of course, but according to the ex-employees who agreed to testify anonymously, concerns also about the direction taken in production. It would indeed be complicated to be heard by those responsible for the project, who seem hermetic to the team. Some are surprised by the lack of reaction from Microsoft, which would not be of great support in this internal war, a case which is not isolated, when we know that other similar projects at Microsoft have already taken place (eg : Rare with Sea of ​​Thieves). Result, at present, the studio The Initiative would today have 50 employees, which is obviously insufficient to develop a project as ambitious as this reboot of Perfect Dark. With vacancies and a Crystal Dynamics that seems to be taking the lead on the development, we will have to expect big changes in the direction of the game, both in the scenario and in the gameplay, with the risk even of a reboot. . When we know that Microsoft set up this studio in 2018 and that the official announcement was made in 2020, we are obviously not ready to see the game land…


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