One of Microsoft's studios that has been hit particularly hard by this week's layoffs is Id Software. Up to a quarter of all employees are said to have been let go, and many now fear that this marks the end of the Id Tech game engine and their classic game series, such as Doom.
Now that people have left the company, stories have begun to surface about what was actually going on behind the scenes at the renowned giant, which apparently included a new Perfect Dark, following the cancellation of The Initiative's title a year ago. In a report from GamesBeat, we can read:
"The team was also considering doing a game based on Perfect Dark, the franchise that hasn't had a new addition since Perfect Dark Zero in 2005 on the Xbox 360 game console. The studio got wind of the idea one day when someone made a presentation in a glass office.
"The Initiative, an Xbox studio in Santa Monica, struggled for as much as seven years to make a Perfect Dark game before The Initiative was shut down in July 2025. Evidently, the Perfect Dark game was available since id Software could tap the IP of other Microsoft properties if they weren't being worked on by others. Concept art was in the works."
Unfortunately, we'll never know what a Perfect Dark game developed by id Software and built with the powerful id Tech 5 engine would have looked like, but doesn't the mere thought of it make your mouth water?