Phantom Dust Reboot Studio, Darkside Games, Closes

The indie studio that was working on the reboot of Phantom Dust has closed shortly after Microsoft Studio's decision to cancel the project.

Darkside Games will be closing up shop due to Microsoft's cancellation of their reboot of the cult classic Phantom Dust, Kotaku reports. This closure will result in the loss of roughly 50 jobs who were working towards this Xbox One reboot. The Big M claims it will still be working on the reboot of Phantom Dust, but has not clarified who will finish the project and whether or not Darkside Games' creations and assets will be used to complete it.

"Microsoft partnered with Darkside Game Studios in the development of Phantom Dust, but our working relationship has now ended. We have great respect for their studio and their work in the industry," a Microsoft representative said. "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 was originally created from Shadows in Darkness, a smalltime, Florida-based development studio founded in 2002. Shadows in Darkness was known for its work in developing the Game Boy Advance's Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku series. Darkside was outsourced for partial development on Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Sunset Overdrive, Gears of War: Judgment, Bioshock: Infinite and more. A member of Darkside Games, who would like to remain anonymous, told Kotaku that Microsoft recently looked at Darkside Games' progress and was thoroughly impressed, yet the studio received the cancellation notice less than 24 hours after the inspection.

Stay tuned as we'll provide up-to-date coverage on the Phantom Dust reboot once more information is available.