Near half of Perfect Dark’s core development team have reportedly left the studio in the past year

Senior developers at Xbox Game Studios’ The Initiative working on the Perfect Dark reboot have reportedly left the studio in the past year, according to VGC. Employee’s LinkedIn profiles revealed that the departures equal to around 34 people who left the project in the past 12 months which is as much as half of the team’s core development team.

Some of the major staff that left The Initiative include the senior design team which includes game director Dan Neuburger, the design director, the lead level designer, a group of three former God of War designers, and more. Other employees who have left include Perfect Dark’s two senior writers, technical director, tech art director, lead gameplay engineer, lead animator, and QA lead.

The timing follows the news of Crystal Dynamics co-develop Perfect Dark which was announced back in September. Looking at the departures and some of the jobs being advertised on The Initiative’s website, the Tomb Raider developer might be taking more of a lead developer role on the Perfect Dark reboot but nothing has been confirmed as of yet.

VGC interviewed former senior developers which revealed the reason behind the “fast and furious” departures was due to a lack of creative autonomy and slow development progress. In response to the departures, The Initiative’s management told VGC that “it’s confident in the team it has in place, and new talent joining” and the progress they are seeing in their relationship with Crystal Dynamics.