The Initiative Has Been Closed, Project Dark Cancelled – WGB

After 7 years, Xbox studio The Initiative has been shut down without releasing a single game. As part of the closure, the game they were working on, a reboot of classic franchise Perfect Dark, has been cancelled.

Jez Corden of Windows Central shared the news as part of ongoing coverage of Microsoft cutting 4% of its global workforce.

Windows Central was given a copy of an internal memo sent by Matt Booty addressing the closure.

“We have made the decision to stop development of Perfect Dark and Everwild as well as wind down several unannounced projects across our portfolio. As part of this, we are closing one of our studios, The Initiative,” wrote Booty. 

Those other projects that Booty mentioned so far include Everwild, along with an unannounced MMORP at Zenimax Online Studios.

Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 has also reportedly lost half of its staff.

As for The Initiative, the last publically confirmed headcount was back in 2022, at which point the studio had 56 staff members. This number has likely grown as development on Perfect Dark ramped up, but I can’t find any information to confirm exact numbers.

In the same article, Jez addresses other studios being hit. He mentions that any studio who showed something at the recent Xbox event is “safe,” according to his sources. However, he does mention Undead Labs also appears to have been hit by the layoffs.

Project Dark was last shown off in 2024 at the Xbox Showcase. We were finally given a look at actual gameplay, but a release date was never mentioned. The game was notably absent from this year’s event.