Perfect Dark reboot may still be two or three years away

It’s going to need to be ‘perfect’ at this rate

The age of reboots and remakes is par for the course nowadays. So when a trailer for a Perfect Dark reboot came out in 2020, it seemed like a good time to revisit the N64 FPS. At least, that was the plan, but the project appears to have suffered from development hell for some time. In fact, it could still be years away from completion.

A recent (and insightful) report from IGN gives the skinny on what’s been happening with the reboot of Rare’s legendary follow-up to GoldenEye. Beginning life in 2018, The Initiative, a studio set up internally at Microsoft, got the ball rolling on bringing Perfect Dark to the modern gaming world.

However, conflicts rose between the studio and Certain Affinity, who came onboard in 2019. This slowed development, even resulting in a flurry of resignations. A lack of direction also meant the project (ironically) saw a number of reboots.

Things seem to be moving forward at the moment, with Tomb Raider‘s Crystal Dynamics now helping out. However, the Perfect Dark reboot still seems to be a long way from reaching us. In fact, sources from IGN’s report state that it may not surface for another two or three years.

That puts the release window around 2025 at the earliest. Given that it’s been in development since 2018, that’s at least a seven-year cycle. While some games have been in development for longer, the fact that the project restarted a number of times means it will likely arrive long after its original due date.

Hopefully the final product will live up to the hype, especially for those who remember the original Nintendo 64 release. With GoldenEye getting ported to modern systems this year, the opportunity to relive retro games is very much in vogue. The chance to play a remake of Perfect Dark is probably on a lot of people’s radars.

Perfect Dark remains slated to launch on Xbox Series X|S and PC.

Andrew Heaton

Andrew has been a gamer since the 17th century Restoration period. He now writes for a number of online publications, contributing news and other articles. He does not own a powdered wig.

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