Long-running game studio Crystal Dynamics, a division of Embracer Group AB, was forced to cut staff and fully abandon the game Perfect Dark last week after failing to find a new funding partner following the game’s cancellation in July.
Embracer had come close to striking a deal in which the video-game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. would purchase the game from Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox, which owned the rights. Take-Two would then fund and publish the game. But the deal collapsed at least in part because the companies involved were unable to come to terms over long-term ownership of the Perfect Dark franchise, said the people, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about sensitive negotiations.