About two minutes of in-development footage from Perfect Dark, the Xbox reboot Microsoft cancelled in July 2025, is now circulating online. Gaming site MP1st published the clip on Tuesday, October 6, and it spread to social media the same day. VGC, IGN, and Insider Gaming picked it up on Wednesday.
Where the footage came from
MP1st’s Alex Co wrote that the footage comes from a VFX artist with experience across several game franchises. VGC, citing MP1st, describes that artist as someone who worked on the project. MP1st also added a note saying it obtained the clip in the course of its own reporting, and that it was not handed over by the developer or by anyone associated with The Initiative. IGN says the footage seems to have come from a VFX developer’s portfolio and calls it a short clip that was clearly cut together as a portfolio piece.
On X, the account Idle Sloth (@IdleSloth84_) shared the video on October 6 under the label “LEAKED | Perfect Dark — 2 mins of Gameplay.” That post is the one VGC and IGN embedded in their own stories.
None of the reports includes a comment from Microsoft, and none says Microsoft has confirmed the footage is authentic. Because the game was cancelled, the clip offers a look at work that will not ship. It does not hint at any future Perfect Dark release.
What the outlets say it shows
According to VGC, the video is a series of short gameplay clips that show several weapons and locations, an escape sequence that appears to feature protagonist Joanna Dark on a mission, a brief hacking sequence, and what look like weapon-effect tests in a greybox environment. IGN lists destructible environments, sci-fi weapons, parkour traversal, more fleshed-out levels, and tests of how environments react, including fruit that breaks apart under fire. IGN adds that the clip focuses mostly on explosions, weapons, and environmental effects. Insider Gaming notes that the footage is clearly early in development, with a poor frame rate. MP1st says the clip includes zones that, as far as it knows, had not been shown before.
How Perfect Dark got here
Microsoft founded The Initiative in Santa Monica in 2018 under former Crystal Dynamics boss Darrell Gallagher, and Perfect Dark was meant to be its first game. The reboot was revealed at The Game Awards in December 2020. On September 24, 2021, The Initiative announced that Crystal Dynamics would co-develop it. Xbox showed the first gameplay in 2024.
On July 2, 2025, Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty told staff in an internal memo that Microsoft would stop development of Perfect Dark and Rare’s Everwild and close The Initiative. Windows Central reported the same day that the partnership with Crystal Dynamics would end as well. MP1st says documents it reported on last year showed The Initiative had been working on the game’s first vertical slice since April 2025.
In September 2025, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported that Take-Two had held talks with Microsoft and Embracer about funding and publishing the game. VGC, summarizing that report, says the deal collapsed in part because the companies could not agree on long-term ownership of the Perfect Dark franchise.
The footage arrives during another round of upheaval at Xbox, which RCG covered last month when Xbox confirmed 268 cuts and proposed closing Ninja Theory.
