The Initiative announced its work for a Perfect Dark reboot in 2020, revealing that the new game would be a Microsoft exclusive and would give fans a return to one of the best espionage games according to Metacritic. While The Initiative is the main studio currently working on the new Perfect Dark game, Microsoft enlisted the help of Crystal Dynamics in order to support the upcoming title's development. Crystal Dynamics, famous for its work on the Tomb Raider survivor trilogy and more recently Marvel's Avengers, has essentially been working as a support studio on the new Perfect Dark.
Fans, however, had been quite concerned whether the acclaimed development studio would still be working on Perfect Dark following the announcement that several Western Square Enix studios were being bought out by Embracer Group. In addition to the studios, Embracer also purchased multiple Square Enix IPs for a total sum of around $300 million. This led many to wonder about the future of popular franchises like Tomb Raider, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Deus Ex.
Despite the concern, The Initiative has confirmed via Twitter that the teams will continue to work together on a Perfect Dark reboot. The Initiative even stated that it had made "great progress" working alongside Crystal Dynamics, leading some to believe that fans could see gameplay of Perfect Dark sooner rather than later. There have been announcements that the new Perfect Dark is in a playable state for some time though, meaning the game development may not have progressed as much as is being implied.
Crystal Dynamics and The Initiative have a history predating the work on Perfect Dark. The former was founded by Crystal's previous boss Darrel Gallagher, and has Tomb Raider's reboot director Daniel Neuburger as an employee. Considering Crystal's previous work on Tomb Raider's reboot, it makes sense for the studio to support another major franchise reboot. However, with Perfect Dark remaining a mystery to most, it may be too soon to comment on the outlook of the game so far.
Crystal Dynamics has recently announced that it is also working on a new Tomb Raider game using Unreal Engine 5. While the state of this upcoming project is likely in the air due to Embracer's acquisition, to many this indicates that fans could be seeing a closer look at Perfect Dark soon. Some even believe that there could be a first look at gameplay at Microsoft and Bethesda's joint showcase in June.
Perfect Dark is in development.