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Phantom Dust Moves Forward, But Darkside Games No Longer Helming
Microsoft announced a reboot of the 2004 Xbox exclusive Phantom Dust at E3 2014, to both surprise and excitement from those who played the original. Unfortunately, it seems the project has hit a bump in the road.
Multiple calls to the studio's main line and executive and creative leadership went unanswered this afternoon. We've left messages and will update should we hear back. A report from Kotaku suggests a bleak scenario, though.
Microsoft did respond to our inquiries, confirming that it is no longer working with Darkside. However, Phantom Dust is still a project in progress.
“Microsoft partnered with Darkside Game Studios in the development of ‘Phantom Dust,’ but our working relationship has now ended," a company representative told us via email. "We have great respect for their studio and their work in the industry. While we do not have anything new to share on ‘Phantom Dust’ at this time, we can confirm that development of the title continues. We look forward to sharing more details on the game as we get closer to release.”
Darkside Games' website lists Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Gears of War Judgment, and other projects to which it contributed. We'll update should we receive additional information.
[Source: Kotaku]
Our Take
Kotaku's report suggests that Darkside might have fallen on tough times after this announcement. While it is unlikely that we'll get specifics on what happened with Phantom Dust from the studio, I hope to be able to get some indication from leadership about the way forward.
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