Cancelled? The new Perfect Dark may be in trouble with Zenimax layoffs

The new MMORPG franchise could also be affected.

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The layoffs in Microsoft’s Xbox division have already cost the production of Everwild, a title from Rare that really promised a lot based on what we had seen in trailers and images from the early development stages. The title had begun development in 2019 with a studio based in the UK, whose members, for the most part, were also part of the team that conceived the original Perfect Dark.

In the midst of this wave of layoffs, rumors are emerging that point to the cancellation of the new Perfect Dark and the IP from ZeniMax Online Studios, which would be an MMORPG. The latter was not officially shown, unlike Perfect Dark, whose initial development had many ups and downs from the start. Regarding the latter, we know that The Initiative has been in charge of development in recent years with the help of Crystal Dynamics, a studio well-known for its great work on the Tomb Raider saga. What is known about the new IP from Zenimax is that it has been in development since 2018 and would be an evolution of what was seen in The Elder Scrolls Online.

The bad news doesn’t let up on this day

Regarding the layoffs, the hardware part of Xbox was the least affected, which seems to contradict the idea that hardware is on its way out of Microsoft’s plan, and something that does go hand in hand with the announcement of the agreement with AMD as the main manufacturer.

In numbers, the previous waves of layoffs reduced approximately 15,300 jobs, while today’s announcements globally translate to 9,000 lost jobs. Microsoft’s so-called restructuring has already reduced its payroll by 4% globally. Hopefully, this will be the last time this year that we have to report on a similar situation within the company, but we will remain attentive to the news of the state of the projects in development to see if they will indeed continue on their course.