Xbox Rejected id Software's Perfect Dark Pitch Before Layoffs 1

id Software has been put through the ringer of late as layoffs continue to sweep through Xbox Game Studios, resulting in 3,200 job cuts. Half of the id Software team were let go just moments before shipping DOOM: The Dark Ages Revelations DLC. Not the pat on back they sorely deserved.

According to a report from GamesBeat, the DLC wasn't the only thing id Software had up its sleeve. The studio is said to have had multiple project proposals on the table, include one codenamed "Fury" - a martial arts-inpsired, John Wick-style game that director Hugo Martin had reportedly tried to get greenlit in the past.

"As for the code-named Fury, it was a project that game director and studio co-director Hugo Martin proposed in the past as an original intellectual property. It had elements of sci-fi, noir, and Louisiana and Chicago gangsters. It had a modern, cyberpunk-like feel. It had a concept called Gun Fu, which combined gunplay with martial arts. The game was supposed to feel a lot like a John Wick movie, but it was not formally greenlit for production."

There was mention of Ironwood, a "Western-style robot" survival game said to have shades of Westworld. More intriguingly, there was chatter of a potential Perfect Dark revival. It seems id Software was keen on resurrecting the franchise following the cancellation of The Initiative's Perfect Dark reboot in July 2025.

"The team was also considering doing a game based on Perfect Dark [...] The studio got wind of the idea one day when someone made a presentation in a glass office."

"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."

Another proposal that doesn't seem completely off the cards was a co-op/multiplayer DOOM game. Both DOOM (2016) and DOOM: Eternal featured some sort of multiplayer offering, and I'd personally think it cruel, and silly, for Xbox to ignore the quality of id's DOOM trilogy, but whether this is possible is up in the air as "it’s not clear which game, if any, the remaining team can do."

"And as far as Doom goes, there were proposals to do multiplayer, co-op and more DLC. One of the ideas was to bring back old guns from previous games like Doom Eternal and Doom 2016."

Of course, we want to remind you to take all of this with a pinch of salt, as nothing has been confirmed through official channels.

What are you thoughts on id Software making a Perfect Dark game? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

[source gamesbeat.com]