Footage of Microsoft’s now-dead Perfect Dark revival appears online

Footage of Microsoft’s Perfect Dark revival, which was in development at The Initiative before the project was scrapped, has appeared online.

As originally published by Mp1st, the footage – which is now starting to be shared on social media – appears to be made up of several short in-development gameplay clips of the reboot. Several different weapons and locations are shown, as is an escape sequence which appears to show protagonist Joanna Dark during a mission.

A short hacking sequence is also shown, as are what appear to be weapons effect tests in a greybox enviroment. According to Mp1st, the footage comes from a VFX artist who worked on the project.

Last year, Mp1st published concept art and gameplay information from the cancelled spy shooter, which was first announced in 2020 before eventually being cancelled in 2025 as part of widespread changes at Microsoft.

Santa Monica, California-based The Initiative was established in 2018 by former Crystal Dynamics boss Darrell Gallagher, along with a host of veteran developers. Perfect Dark was to be the studio’s first title.

Xbox finally showed gameplay for the Perfect Dark reboot in 2024, four years after its announcement. According to report at the time, the game had been through a challenging development.

VGC reported in March 2022 that the Xbox studio had seen a “fast and furious” wave of senior departures over the previous year.

The cancellation of Perfect Dark come alongside the cancellation of Rare’s Everwild. 

According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, some attempt was made to rescue the game by GTA publisher Take-Two.

According to Bloomberg’s sources, Take-Two was in discussions with Microsoft and Embracer to fund and publish the game, but the deal collapsed in part because the companies were unable to come to terms over long-term ownership of the Perfect Dark franchise.