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‘Perfect Dark’ Developer Lays Off Staff After Funding Deal Falls Through

Crystal Dynamics was close to moving the game to Take-Two, but negotiations fell apart

www.bloomberg.com

Take-two almost took over the project but Microsoft refused to sell the IP for some reason.

Edit: Bloomberg was blocking Galaxy AI somehow, but I went on archive.is and got you all hooked up anyways:

Crystal Dynamics Lays Off Staff After Perfect Dark Funding Deal Fails

• Crystal Dynamics, a division of Embracer Group, was forced to lay off staff after a funding deal for the game Perfect Dark fell through.

• The deal involved Take-Two Interactive potentially purchasing the game from Microsoft's Xbox, which owns the rights, but negotiations failed due to disagreements over the long-term ownership of the Perfect Dark franchise.

• Perfect Dark, a reboot of the 2000 Nintendo 64 game, was initially developed by The Initiative studio, which was shut down by Xbox in July, leading to the search for a new publisher.

• Despite efforts to secure funding, including negotiations with Take-Two, the deal ultimately collapsed, resulting in layoffs at Crystal Dynamics, although the exact number of affected staff was not specified.

https://archive.is/dATYX

 

[Pedro Motta]

Microsoft, the gift that keeps on giving.

 

[Matsuchezz]

MS should stop making games altogether, they suck!

 

[Bitstream]

Fake perfect dark trailers generated nearly a third of the xbox hype for the past 5 years...if they sell off the IP they can't conjure up new fake trailers to help sell their upcoming $1400 console/pc

 

[viveks86]

 

[Astray]

Microsoft, the gift that keeps on giving.

It's certainly a wild decision to block the sale and still cancel the project, shelving the IP for the foreseeable future, literally an all-downside decision imo.

 

[graywolf323]

frankly that's a lot of why I feel Microsoft went on that spending spree, they wanted to expand their IP ownership

 

[Magic Carpet]

Since they want to keep the IP so badly, need some ideas on what to do with Joanna Dark.
I vote a 2D side scrolling platformer similar to Prince of Persia.

 

[Fafalada]

Microsoft, the gift that keeps on giving.

It's all that AI efficiency, games are finished and taken off the shelf before they even start.

 

[Punished Miku]

I dont blame them. Funding the remainder of a game years in development is not the same as permanently selling your IP. MS is funding Ninja Gaiden 4 but won't own the IP.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Guess exclusivity still matters after all, huh?

frankly that's a lot of why I feel Microsoft went on that spending spree, they wanted to expand their IP ownership

Yep. Exclusive ownership of IP.

Shit like this is why I don't take the "exclusives don't matter" crowd seriously whatsoever. These corporations LOVE exclusive ownership of IP, patents, you name it. No one says that's anti-consumer.

 

[Pop]

AI was a mistake

 

[StreetsofBeige]

5 years and all everyone got was what? 1 or 2 trailers? And googling it, it says the game started development in 2018. So it's really 7 years.

What a grift. How come I can never find a job like that? Work a ton of years making bank and have nothing to show for. LOL. Every job I've had you start as a noob and after maybe 3-4 weeks of getting your feet wet getting to know people and the role, you got to get on the ball and start producing.

Just imagine you at your job and after 7 years got nothing. And your best advice for execs is.... can you give us an 8th, 9th or 10th year? The team promises after a decade we'll have something ready.

I wish in finance I can coast and tell the VP of Finance, hey man.... can you give me 8 years to work on something? I'll have something to show everyone in year 9.

There's going to be people who'd worked there for 7 years who became millionaires making 7 years worth of high salaries + whatever other perks and benefits they got from MS. And add severance pay out on top of it.

 

[Durin]

Not surprised, game companies have unique mental illness over retaining IP they do next to fucking nothing with.

Look at EA...sitting on a treasure trove of dead IP they killed, and the most they'll do is a few remasters.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

The Phil Spencer Effect

 

[willothedog]

MS should stop making games altogether, they suck!

Then what would you play on your PS5 since half of the top 10 in recent months are Microsoft games?

 

[DreamcastSkies]

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

 

[mckmas8808]

The Phil Spencer Effect

He's gonna get fired next year isn't he?

 

[kevboard]

how can a massive corp like Microsoft be too retarded to make a fucking Perfect Dark game?

the AAA industry is not even a joke anymore, it's a whole sketch show, with 10 seasons and 20 episodes per season, at this point.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Should've just brought classic 90s Lara back

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

Microsoft, the gift that keeps on giving.

Yeah this must be the most hated company globally and that's saying something if you literally compete with entities that funded genocide, torture and all kinds of human rights violations.

 

[FoxMcChief]

He's gonna get fired next year isn't he?

After he buys Sony.

 

[N30RYU]

MS rather see the IP die than sell it... what a garbage company

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

He's gonna get fired next year isn't he?

Someone has to be, because goddamn, what a shitshow

 

[tr1p1ex]

I have a master list of 20000 game developers. And their current state of employment and if so what employer.

IT's for my new game. Publisher Wars.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Was really looking forward to Perfect Dark. I just don't understand how you can take 7 years and still not getting the game through the door? I hope they release a documentary about this shitshow, would make for an interesting watch.

 

[Banjo64]

So Microsoft literally just wants to sit on these IPs so no one can have them?

 

[Magic Carpet]

Was really looking forward to Perfect Dark. I just don't understand how you can take 7 years and still not getting the game through the door? I hope they release a documentary about this shitshow, would make for an interesting watch.

After watching the Doublefine documentary, I can already tell you it will just be a bunch of people in meetings staring at a white board then going back to their desks. Eventually someone gets fired and the game comes out.
Except this time a game didn't come out.

 

[HJuggernaut]

nobody wanted another perfect dark

 

[Black_Stride]

Microsoft is so full of shit for this.

Atleast let the game release, if it bombs then do the layoffs, cancelling this deep into development????

 

[diffusionx]

So Microsoft literally just wants to sit on these IPs so no one can have them?

There's literally no upside to selling them except for short term cash which Microsoft doesn't need.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

nobody wanted another perfect dark

I agree.

There's a small dedicated core of gamers on social media that pump up old franchises like they will be the hottest games everyone wants to play. And it never pans out.

- Perfect Dark
- Abe's Odyssey
- Beyond Good and Evil
- Psychonauts

There's going to be some more I missed.

 

[Deerock71]

You remember...when Microsoft came into the gaming space...and everyone thought it was cool?

 

[Embearded]

When no one plays we all win.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

I agree.

There's a small dedicated core of gamers on social media that pump up old franchises like they will be the hottest games everyone wants to play. And it never pans out.

- Perfect Dark
- Abe's Odyssey
- Beyond Good and Evil
- Psychonauts

There's going to be some more I missed.

I love Beyond Good and Evil but after 20 years there is no point.

 

[HJuggernaut]

I agree.

There's a small dedicated core of gamers on social media that pump up old franchises like they will be the hottest games everyone wants to play. And it never pans out.

- Perfect Dark
- Abe's Odyssey
- Beyond Good and Evil
- Psychonauts

There's going to be some more I missed.

I actually wanted Beyond Good and Evil 2 but I wanted it to be a SP not the MMO GAAS crap ubisoft turned it into, where is that game btw?

 

[Banjo64]

There's literally no upside to selling them except for short term cash which Microsoft doesn't need.

Erm letting people make games out of the IP so people who love video games can play them?

 

[touchfuzzy]

I agree.

There's a small dedicated core of gamers on social media that pump up old franchises like they will be the hottest games everyone wants to play. And it never pans out.

- Perfect Dark
- Abe's Odyssey
- Beyond Good and Evil
- Psychonauts

There's going to be some more I missed.

This is pretty much Sega's big revival plans in a nutshell unfortunately. Nobody cares about Jet Set Radio and Crazy Taxi outside of video game forums.

 

[semiconscious]

AI was a mistake

true story: a guy named sam altman founded a company that developed a large language model (which've been around, in one form or another, since the late 1990s). but rather than naming that company 'open large language model', he named it 'openai', produced chatgpt, & became a billionaire...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_language_model

 

[HJuggernaut]

true story: a guy named sam altman founded a company that developed a large language model (which've been around, in one form or another, since the late 1990s). but rather than naming that company 'open large language model', he named it 'openai', produced chatgpt, & became a billionaire...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_language_model

actually DARPA developed the tech and handed it over to him, they did the same thing with the Google duo.

 

[Shadowstar39]

Meh.... with that man face, I wrote the game off as woke trash long ago.

If they would of stayed true to the roots of the game, I would of been on board, and this news would of been bad, but meh.. I still have the first games to try on my series x.

 

[Badlucktroll]

 

[Memati187]

All these news make me depressed. I was soo close buying an xbox. Im tired switching from blue to green to blue again.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Forfeiting IP is most often a bad idea. Companies should only do it if they have to in order to survive.

The Initiative was genuinely an unrivaled disaster.

 

[Kacho]

All these news make me depressed. I was soo close buying an xbox. Im tired switching from blue to green to blue again.

Just don't hit the sauce again, Mel

 

[ultrazilla]

They are brain dead in the Microsoft gaming division.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

 

[Bernardougf]

Guess exclusivity still matters after all, huh?



Yep. Exclusive ownership of IP.

Shit like this is why I don't take the "exclusives don't matter" crowd seriously whatsoever. These corporations LOVE exclusive ownership of IP, patents, you name it. No one says that's anti-consumer.

Oh you mean the crowd that dont own a ps5 and/or prefer to play their games on PCMR ? ...

 

[Memati187]

Im still pissed about this cancellation. Anything but this mate. Fuck them.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

I agree.

There's a small dedicated core of gamers on social media that pump up old franchises like they will be the hottest games everyone wants to play. And it never pans out.

- Perfect Dark
- Abe's Odyssey
- Beyond Good and Evil
- Psychonauts

There's going to be some more I missed.

Psychonauts 2 is one of the greatest games of all time. Everyone should play it. Hopefully it'll get lots of new players on PS Plus.