[UPDATE] Grubb has now added that he also heard Perfect Dark might be shown at the Xbox Games Showcase. Also, he slightly backtracked from his previous statement about the game's rough state, clarifying that it was just one developer feeling that way and that it's not uncommon during development.
[ORIGINAL STORY] Following Xbox's decision to close down three studios (Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and Alpha Dog Games) and roll Roundhouse Studios into ZeniMax Online, Jeff Grubb's rumor that the Perfect Dark reboot was in rough waters made things look even more dire for Xbox fans.
Grubb said the game hasn't really come together in any meaningful way, even after experienced studio Crystal Dynamics (Tomb Raider) officially partnered with The Initiative in September 2021. Needless to say, that didn't sound very enticing to anyone interested in the reboot of the stealth first-person shooter game series.
Today, though, fellow insider Nate the Hate countered Grubb's report on the topic. During the latest episode of Spawncast's DirectXbox, he said:
If it doesn't show next month, I think you could begin to have just some conversation about what is happening with the game, but I wouldn't sound any alarms until the end of the year. If we go the entire year without seeing Perfect Dark in any form, then I think that conversation of concern has to come up, but at this point, I fully expect that we will see Perfect Dark next month and that some of the more recent rumors may have been outdated information perhaps. I have been hearing things this week that Perfect Dark is not in that bad of a state.
To be fair, Grubb was not the only insider to speak in a pessimistic fashion of this reboot recently. Even Miller Ross, Liam Robertson, and VG247's Alex Donaldson shared negative rumblings.
If Perfect Dark does show up on the Xbox Games Showcase slated for June 9, it better be very good. As MIDiA Research Games Analyst Rhys Elliott put it while talking to Wccftech, Microsoft desperately needs a strong showing to win back at least some of the many disgruntled fans.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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