Perfect Dark Release Date Reportedly Way Further Out Than Expected

Xbox's upcoming reboot of Perfect Dark, which is being helmed by The Initiative, is reportedly taking longer to develop than many fans originally expected. All the way back in 2020, The Initiative announced that its first project as a studio would be Perfect Dark, which would be the first new installment in the series since 2005's Perfect Dark Zero. Since that time, virtually no new information on the game has come about, which has led people to wonder about the status of the title. Now, based on new reporting that has come about, it seems that work on Perfect Dark has hit a number of big roadblocks over the years which has led to the title taking longer to come about. 

In an extensive article from IGN, new insight into the development of Perfect Dark was outlined by anonymous sources that previously worked on the game. Broadly speaking, Perfect Dark is planned to be a first-person shooter that is still early in its pre-production phase. Despite having been founded all the way back in 2018, The Initiative has experienced a large amount of turnover in recent years, which has made it even harder for Perfect Dark to reach meaningful milestones.

Outside of these problems, Perfect Dark is reportedly said to have struggled to find a concrete vision. This has led to a lot of development on the game being scrapped over the years and restarted completely. Currently, supporting developer Crystal Dynamics is also said to have taken a larger role in creating the game than expected. As of 2022, work on Perfect Dark essentially started over entirely to convert the project to be made within Unreal Engine 5. 

If there is a silver lining with this situation, it would be that work on Perfect Dark seems to have now stabilized to the point that The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics are making good progress on the game. Perfect Dark is also said to be considering an episodic release format, but these plans reportedly aren't set in stone. No matter how this upcoming Xbox exclusive turns out, though, it's still going to be a long time before any fans are able to play it for themselves. 

How do you feel about these supposed development struggles that Perfect Dark has gone through? And when do you think that this game will see the light of day? Let me know either down in the comments or reach out to me on Twitter at @MooreMan12.