Xbox’s new ‘AAAA’ studio rumoured to be resurrecting Perfect Dark

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Microsoft’s ‘The Initiative’ is reportedly working on a third person Perfect Dark title.

(Image credit: Rare, Xbox)

Microsoft’s all new ‘AAAA’ studio is working on a new Perfect Dark game.

That's according to journalist Jeff Grubb (thanks VGC). Reporting the scoop  in the most 2020 way (via comments in a Twitch chat window) Grubb claims that Xbox’s latest first party studio, The Initiative  is hard at work creating a third person title set in the same universe as the beloved N64 shooter.

If true, this upcoming outing, almost certainly for Xbox Series X, would be the first new entry in Rare’s beloved FPS franchise since 2005’s middling Perfect Dark Zero on Xbox 360. Grubb’s comments follow the discussion of a recent tweet by Xbox head Phil Spencer, who described The Initiative as “challenging themselves to do new things (and old things) in new ways.”

This isn’t the first time that Spencer has hinted at Microsoft’s shiny new game studio resurrecting an old IP. During an interview with Inside Xbox at E3 2018, Spencer has this to say:

“[Studio head, Darrell Gallagher] really loved his time with Crystal Dynamics, working on Lara Croft and Tomb Raider, kind of re-working some of that franchise. We were talking about some things in our past that might be interesting… nothing to announce yet, but just some things that he might want to go work on.”

Aside from a logo, little else has been shared about Microsoft’s mysterious new maestros. We do know, however, that the Santa Monica based Initiative is turning into a bit of a game dev supergroup. Described in a (now deleted) Microsoft job listing as an ‘AAAA’ studio, The Initiative is comprised of developers who have worked on franchises like Apex Legends, Tomb Raider, Gears of War, Doom 2016 and Uncharted. With such a strong line-up of developer pedigree, we can't wait to see what they come up with.

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Tom Regan
Tom Regan
Freelance Writer

Tom is a freelance journalist and former PR with over five years worth of experience across copy-writing, on-camera presenting, and journalism.

Named one of the UK games industry’s rising stars by Gamesindustry.biz, Tom has been published by world-leading outlets such as: Fandom, The Guardian, NME, Ars Technica, GamesRadar, Engadget, IGN, Techradar, Red Bull, and EDGE.