Shinobi responded saying "Accurate" about Crystal Dynamics/Perfect Dark.

It's also a damning statement on The Initiative. What the actual fuck. This should 100% be a fireable offence for Matt Booty. The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics spent the past 6 years doing fuck all?  I'm suddenly a little less bothered by The Initiative being shutdown, a team of veterans and they twiddled their thumbs making vertical slices for 6 fucking years? Was Crystal Dynamics funnelling Perfect Dark funding to Tomb Raider or some shit because this is wild? Lol. 

Basically being told the game didn't actually exist, their was no foundation, Crystal Dynamics just made a few cool vertical slices to please executives and that's all. I'm sorry but I change my stance on this one now, I have ZERO surprise that Perfect Dark was cancelled now and feel little sympathy for The Initiative layoffs.

But WTF at Booty. This should be career ending for him. There's no way. Phil needs to grow a pair and let him go. JFC.

Fire Matt Booty and replace him with Feargus Urquhart, JFC. At least that guy knows what his fucking studio is doing.

MS needs to stop letting this kind of thing happen. I get you don't wanna aggressively micromanage studios, that's no good. Clearly, however, you also can't just leave them to their own devices for years and years only to eventually realize that nothing is getting done. The oversight has to improve by leaps and bounds. 

Yup. It's so draining, it's shit everywhere and you've still not even mentioned half of the extra shit that is going on right now, Lol. Idas did a post earlier which made Take-Two, EA, Square Enix and Ubisoft's future all look mega depressing too, Lol. Young gamers not playing as much too, investors pulling funding, far too many games releasing at the same time, blackhole games sucking the oxygen out of the room, a focus on only the biggest titles and GaaS, I really hate what the gaming industry is becoming.

I almost wish I was a gamer who only cared about Fortnite, Lol.

Louise O'Connor is gone from Rare too

Another veteran of Rare, she was always so bubbly and excited about her work, I kind of saw her as the face of Rare because her vibes were perfect for Rare, a vibrant studio that makes a bunch of quirky and fun stuff, Lol. She seemed awesome, fuck Microsoft.

I can't see the old Rare anymore now...At least I still like Joe Neate...But morale at Rare is going to collapse.

Just be like me. Wholly embrace PC gaming. Get a shit ton of ROMs and emulators and play the OG games you grew up on like a comfy blanket, with the occasional modern game sprinkled in there

Devastated. I've been impacted by the latest round of Xbox layoffs.

I've loved this job, my team, and everyone I've had the joy to work with.

I don't understand and am completely heartbroken 💔

— Nick Zuclich (@nickzuclich.bsky.social) 2 July 2025 at 19:40

Shinobi on Perfect Dark

From what I understand it was going through a lot of problems. Changes in design, uncertainty in direction. Last year I'd heard it needed years more worth of pre-production and the gameplay demo was more or less 'smoke and mirrors' than an actual game.

Yes. It somehow made it to release. But Perfect Dark didn't get close.