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Perfect Dark will be co-developed by Tomb Raider studio

The Initiative will not be rebooting Perfect Dark on their own, bringing aboard the developer behind Tomb Raider and Marvel's Avengers.

Ozzie Mejia

September 23, 2021 5:28 PM

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Xbox fans rejoiced when they first learned that the Perfect Dark series would be returning. There hasn't been a lot about the game revealed since its initial announcement. However, first-party developer The Initiative has been hard at work on the series revival and it now appears that they will not be working on it alone. On Thursday, The Initiative announced that Crystal Dynamics would also be on board for the ride.

The teams couldn’t pass up a chance to work together. We’re still early in development, but incredibly excited to use this unique opportunity to deliver on the vision for Perfect Dark!

— TheInitiative (@TheInitiative) September 24, 2021

Crystal Dynamics is recognized for their work on the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot. The studio's most recent work is 2020's Marvel's Avengers. Crystal Dynamics continues to put work into the Marvel superhero game, most recently revealing the game's late 2021/early 2022 roadmap. It should be noted that this will be Crystal Dynamics' first project in over a decade without publisher Square Enix, as Perfect Dark will be a first-party Xbox-exclusive joint.

Outside of the two developers announcing their new partnership, there's very little known about the new Perfect Dark. It was first revealed at The Game Awards 2020, where players were re-introduced to Joanna Dark and shown the revival's new setting.

"We have built the Perfect Dark team at The Initiative by bringing in some of the most talented game makers from around the industry who all share a passion for storytelling, world-building and creating memorable game experiences," The Initiative Studio Head Darrell Gallagher said on Xbox Wire after Perfect Dark's reveal. "With the full backing from Xbox Studios to re-imagine one of the best loved IPs from gaming history, we couldn't be more excited to share some of our early ideas."

There's still no release window for Perfect Dark, but with The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics now working together, there should hopefully be more information on the game on the horizon. We'll keep an eye on this game's development here at Shacknews, so keep it here for the latest updates.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?