Take-Two Came Close to Buying Cancelled Perfect Dark Reboot From Xbox Before Talks Collapsed: Report

Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics announced layoffs last week. The latest round of cuts, the studio's second this year, reportedly came after a potential deal with Take-Two Interactive to fund the Perfect Dark reboot collapsed. The game was cancelled by Microsoft in July, but co-developer Crystal Dynamics attempted to find a new publishing partner to buy the game from the Xbox parent, according to a new report.

Take-Two Came Close to Buying Perfect Dark

Crystal Dynamics parent Embracer Group was involved in discussions with Microsoft and Take-Two for the latter to take over the Perfect Dark project, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier reported Tuesday. As part of the deal, Take-Two would buy the reboot title from Xbox to fund and publish the game.

Take-Two was close to signing a deal before it fell through, as per the report. Citing people familiar with the negotiations, Bloomberg claimed that the talks collapsed in part because Take-Two, Microsoft, and Embracer were unable to come to an agreement over long-term ownership of the Perfect Dark franchise. Microsoft owns the rights to the IP since it bought Rare, the developer behind the original game, in 2022.

Microsoft presented Perfect Dark gameplay at Xbox Games Showcase last year
Photo Credit: Microsoft

Perfect Dark Fully Abandoned

With the deal off the table, Crystal Dynamics was forced to lay off an unspecified number of employees last week. The studio has now reportedly fully abandoned the Perfect Dark reboot.

In its announcement confirming a fresh round of layoffs, Crystal Dynamics cited “evolving business conditions” as the reason behind the cuts. The developer said the move was necessary to ensure its long-term health, but confirmed that the future of Tomb Raider remained unaffected by the decision. In addition to working on Perfect Dark alongside now shuttered Xbox studio The Initiative, Cystal Dynamics has also been developing the next Tomb Raider title.

Perfect Dark was cancelled by Microsoft as part of wide-ranging cuts at its Gaming division in July. The company also shuttered co-developer The Initiative and cancelled several other unannounced projects.

The stealth-action game, a reboot of the original from 2000, was revealed at The Game Awards 2020 and was in the works at the newly set up Xbox first-party studio The Initiative, with Crystal Dynamics co-developing. Perfect Dark also received a first-look gameplay trailer at last year's Xbox Games Showcase.