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Perfect Dark reboot's director may have left the project

Steely-eyed fans noted that Perfect Dark game director Dan Neuburger appears to have left developer The Initiative.

TJ Denzer

March 14, 2022 8:55 AM

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One of the more interesting announcements to have come out of Xbox Game Studios in the past few years was that of a reboot of the legendary N64 shooter, Perfect Dark. Headed up by developers The Initiative with support from Crystal Dynamics, the Perfect Dark reboot is one fans have been hotly anticipating since its announce in 2020. We’ve been waiting for more some substantial news in the years since, but a major change in staff may be some cause for concern. Apparently the game’s director has left the project.

Perfect Dark reboot game director Dan Neuberger’s departure was noticed on his LinkedIn, as pointed out by users on ResetEra. According to said LinkedIn, Neuberger’s tenure with The Initiative came to a quiet end in February 2022 after three years of development with the studio. Given that we haven’t heard in a while outside the fact that Perfect Dark is being co-developed with Crystal Dynamics, this might be a bit of cause for concern, but some are optimistic that it may mean the game is further along than expected and could see a release date in 2023.

The Perfect Dark reboot was first announced at The Game Awards 2020 with a brief teaser. Since then, many have been anxiously waiting a new look at what heroine Joanna Dark’s next adventure will look like since it had been more than 15 years since the Perfect Dark series’ last appearance in games. With a couple more years having passed since the announcement, it seems likely that Perfect Dark may have been slowed down by complications with the COVID-19 pandemic as many parts of the industry had been.

Nonetheless, hopefully we’ll see something new and substantial on Perfect Dark soon in light of Neuberger’s departure from The Initiative. We’ll update this story as new details become available.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.