Perfect Dark development reportedly in flux as The Initiative underwent mass exodus

pcinvasion.com:

During The Game Awards 2020 show, Microsoft unveiled the existence of a new Perfect Dark reboot through a brief teaser trailer. Much like its older cousin GoldenEye 007, many fans of the Nintendo 64 see the original Perfect Dark as one of the best shooters to come out on that system. With this in mind, a revival of the IP seemed like a perfect way to create even more hype around the Microsoft brand. Unfortunately, it appears that development on this new reboot may not have gone as well as the developers had hoped. According to the VGC, an analysis of the Perfect Dark developers’ LinkedIn profiles reveals that around half of the core development team’s staff at The Initiative left the company last year.

This mass exodus of employees include some fairly high-profile individuals, such as game director Dan Neuburger and lead level designer Chris O’Neill. Additionally, principal world builder Jolyon Myers as well as a trio of designers who formerly worked on the new God of War game have moved on from the company. The departures also include employees who had roles outside of design, such as the two most senior writers and the technical director. All in all, around 34 employees departed from The Initiative during 2021, leaving the company with less than 50 employees as of right now. Apparently, within the past 12 months, only 12 individuals joined the company.

The reasoning for this massive wave of departures reportedly comes from anonymous former employees of the company, who cite “a lack of creative autonomy and slow development progress.” They refer to the departures as “fast and furious” and claim that they have “heavily affected” the project’s momentum. Apparently, former developers expressed frustration over the