A couple of months after the cancellation of the Perfect Dark project came to light, head of developer The Initiative, Darrell Gallagher, has announced his departure from Xbox. Gallagher took to LinkedIn to announce that he was leaving his position, and wrote about how he was proud of the passionate team that was working on the title before its eventual cancellation.
“After an incredible journey, my time at Xbox has come to a close with the wind-down of Perfect Dark and The Initiative,” announced Gallagher. “I couldn’t be prouder of the talented and passionate team I had the privilege assemble and lead. Together, we set out to reimagine an iconic franchise and poured creativity, craft, and dedication into every step of the way.“
“The public reception and excitement for what we were building has been inspiring and deeply appreciated by all of us.”
Further in his post, Gallagher also wrote about how thankful he was to Xbox for the time he had spent under the company while working on Perfect Dark, as well as the general support that The Initiative was seeing from the overall community.
“While this chapter is ending sooner than hoped, the spirit, talent, and achievements of the team will live on well beyond the project,” he wrote. “I’m grateful to Xbox for the opportunity, to our partners for their support, and to the community for their belief in what we were creating.”
“I leave with nothing but pride in what we accomplished together and excitement for what’s next — both for myself and for the amazing developers I was fortunate enough to work with. Here’s to new adventures and to celebrating the journey we’ve shared.”
The cancellation of Perfect Dark was revealed back in July to have ultimately led to the closure of developer The Initiative. The announcement was caught through an internal email by Matt Booty of Xbox Game Studios. In his email, Booty wrote about cancelling Perfect Dark and Everwild, along with “several unannounced projects across our portfolio”.
The effects of Perfect Dark’s cancellation ended up being quite far reaching, and earlier this month, reports have indicated that even Crystal Dynamics—a studio that was helping The Initiative to develop the title—was hit with lay-offs. The report indicated that the lay-offs were the result of a deal falling through where Embracer Group was trying to acquire the Perfect Dark IP from Xbox to then sale to Take-Two Interactive, the latter company ultimately funding the development of the game.
While Crystal Dynamics had confirmed the lay-offs, the studio also noted that the development of its Tomb Raider project would not be affected. “Today we made the very difficult decision to part ways with a number of our talented colleagues as the result of evolving business conditions. This decision was not made lightly,” wrote the studio in its announcement. “It was necessary, however, to ensure the long-term health of our studio and core creative priorities in a continually shifting market.”
“To our teams, players, and partners, thank you for your continued support as we build a creative, sustainable, and resilient tomorrow together,” it continued. “This includes the future of Tomb Raider, which remains unaffected by this decision.”
