![]() Speaking with VGC, The Initiative's Darrell Gallagher said, "It's no small task to build a studio and reinvent a beloved franchise. VGC's sources say that Crystal Dynamics will likely fill the gaps left by staff departing The Initiative, and agreed that Perfect Dark might have undergone a soft reboot because of the turnover in staff. Some of the departures occurred in September 2021, which coincided with Crystal Dynamics joining the Perfect Dark reboot as co-developer. One former staff member said: "Making games is hard enough, let alone when you feel like you can't get through to people making the decisions that affect everyone." This has supposedly resulted in development on Perfect Dark progressing "painfully" slowly and a company culture not forming at the studio. They described The Initiative's hierarchy as "top-down" (many at The Initiative were reportedly expecting a bottom-up approach to development) with studio head Darrell Gallagher and game director Dan Neuburger (who has now left), controlling key decisions. The ex-staff members say that senior team members were frustrated with the lack of autonomy, and "didn't feel heard" on key development issues. ![]() In interviews with VGC, former senior developers described the exodus of staff as "fast and furious," which has "heavily affected" the project's momentum. VGC reports that there are now less than 50 members of staff at The Initiative. ![]() ![]() Perfect Dark has also lost two senior writers, the game's technical director, tech art director, lead animator, lead gameplay engineer, QA lead, and more. According to VGC's fantastic report which analyses a lot of information from LinkedIn, around 34 employees have departed the studio, including game director Dan Neuburger, design director Drew Murray, lead level designer Chris O'Neill, principal world builder Jolyon Myers, and other senior staff members. ![]()
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