Take-Two Interactive was reportedly in talks to fund and publish The Initiative’s Perfect Dark reboot following the closure of the developer in July.
That’s according to Bloomberg, with sources telling the publication that the deal ultimately fell through resulting in layoffs at the game’s co-developer Crystal Dynamics last week.
Sources claimed that leadership from The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics spent two months in negotiations with “multiple parties” to find a new funding partner, resulting in a potential deal between Take-Two and Crystal Dynamic’s parent company Embracer.
However, the firms involved were “unable to come to terms over long-term ownership of the Perfect Dark franchise.”
Bloomberg reached out to representatives for Embracer, Xbox, and Take-Two, all of which declined to comment.
The Perfect Dark reboot was announced at The Game Awards in 2020, and was the first project of The Initiative – a first-party Xbox studio founded in 2018.
In 2023, it was reported that Perfect Dark was still in pre-production three years after its announcement.
The developer initially worked with support studio Certain Affinity to co-develop the game, with Crystal Dynamics taking over as a co-dev in 2021.
Crystal Dynamics was acquired by the Embracer Group, alongside Eidos Montreal and Square Enix Montreal, for $300 million.