Initiative: loss of creative freedom and slowing down the creative process

Development on The Initiative’s Perfect Dark reboot has been considered excruciatingly slow since the advent of Crystal Dynamics.

After a thorough investigation, several former members of the Initiative were frustrated by the observed lack of autonomy and repeatedly felt left out on key issues such as development priorities, project planning and staffing. The corporate culture issue was partly the reason for the decision to bring in Crystal Dynamics late last year to speed up the development of the Perfect Dark reboot. It would not be surprising if the project was restarted from the beginning and appeared much later than expected.

If the working atmosphere inside The Initiative seems to be not in the best condition, Darrell Gallagher does not want to dramatize the current situation and looks confident: “Creating a studio and reinventing a beloved franchise is no small feat. In building the Initiative, we have chosen to use the co-development partnership to further our ambitions, and we are truly pleased with the progress we are seeing in our relationship with Crystal Dynamics.

There are frequent personnel changes in this adventure, especially during this period of global upheaval that has taken place over the past two years, and we still have a lot of work ahead of us to deliver a fantastic experience with the reboot from Perfect Dark. We wish all of our former colleagues the best, and I’m confident in the team we have, new talents are joining us, and we look forward to sharing more with the fans.”

Mass layoffs in the Initiative

• Daniel Neuburger, Game Director (Tomb Raider)
• Drew Murray, Design Director (Sunset Overdrive)
• Chris O’Neill, Lead Level Designer and Associate Design Director (God of War, Metal Gear Online)
• Justin Perez, Senior Systems Designer (Jedi Fallen Order)
• Kurt Laudi, Senior Systems Designer (id Software)
• Jan Miller, Senior Designer (God of War)
• Kai Zheng, Lead Level Designer (God of War)
• Ray Yeomans, Senior Designer (God of War, Tomb Raider)
• Jolyon Myers, Master Builder of the World (Infinity Ward)
• Nigel Loster, game designer (The Coalition)
• Sean Slayback, Lead Systems Designer (Respawn Entertainment, Infinity Ward)
• Joey Tan, Assistant Technical Designer (Insomniac Games)
• Blake Fisher, Narrative Director (Xbox)
• Kristin Thompson, main character (Destiny 2)
• William Archbell, CTO (Riot Games, 343 Industries)
• Cesar Castro, Senior Software Engineer (EA Sports UFC, FIFA)
• Hawar Dogramachi, Senior Graphic Engineer (Naughty Dog)
• Robert Marr, Lead Gameplay Engineer (Cryptic Studios)
• Yuka Murata, software engineer
• Stephen Clayburn, Principal Lead Engineer, Online Services
• Maxwell Morrison, Head of Quality Control
• Johal Gow, Senior Producer (Treyarch)
• Lee Davis, Lead Gameplay Animator (Naughty Dog)
• Eric Persson, Assistant Art Director
• Ryan Trowbridge, Technical Art Director (Bend Studio)
• Matt Corcoran, main character artist (Jurassic World film)
• Sze Jones, Lead Character Artist (Tomb Raider, Uncharted 4)
• Giovanni Martinez, Senior Environment Artist (Insomniac Games)
• Pasquale Xionti, Senior Environment/Lighting Artist
• Sarah Swenson, Environment Artist (Naughty Dog)
• Patrick Ward, 3D Environment Artist (Nexon)
• Isaac Yeram Kim, concept artist (Naughty Dog)
• Sylvia Chambers, animator (Naughty Dog)
• Arlington Cruz, host