When we reported to you yesterday that Dan Neuburger had left the reboot project of Perfect Dark at the house of The Initiativewe didn’t want to fall into pessimism about the state of health of the game. But new information tends to show that the project has experienced a lot of internal stir, with a new article from VGC reports wave of departure from The Initiativewhich dates from last year.
The Initiative is experiencing a talent drain
According to the site, half of the flagship team of the next Perfect Dark left the project. Which would be equivalent to about 34 people according to VGC, who would have left the studio during this last year, including Dan Neuburger necessarily, but also lead level designer Chris O’Neill, head of world creation Jolyon Myers, the two lead writers, technical director and many more.
The Initiative reportedly fell below 50 employees. The studio has reportedly hired a dozen people in recent months, and three positions are still up for grabs.
VGC then indicates that the wave of departure especially began when we learned that Crystal Dynamics was joining the project to help The Initiative as a support studio. With all this, Crystal Dynamics would probably be on the verge of taking on more importance in development.
A working method called into question?
The site then questioned many former employees to find out the reasons for these departures, which would be caused in particular by a lack of progress in development, which would take too much time, but also a lack of listening and creative autonomy.
The two people pointed to were then Dan Neuburger and Darrell Gallagher, who is at the head of the studio, which left little room for the ideas of others, with a hierarchy that is too assertive. Since these two leaders were former Crystal Dynamics, the studio would have been chosen as support in order to have a team that conforms better to the working methods of the two leaders.
Anxious to have both versions, VGC also spoke with The Initiative, which states that it has full confidence in the team that is currently in place, and that the studio has had to face many challenges during the pandemic.
Still, the project would have been greatly affected, and VGC then understands that it would be entitled to an internal soft-reboot, pushing back its release date even further.. In short, the return of Perfect Darkit’s not for tomorrow.