It’s been five months since the planned reboot of cult classic Phantom Dust was abruptly left without a developer after Microsoft chose to unceremoniously cancel the version by Darkside Games, which lead to the closure of the 50-strong indie studio.
But there seems to be a glimmer of hope for fans of the decade-old Xbox action strategy game, after Xbox boss Phil Spencer did a recent round of answering fan questions on Twitter.
@chobel_gaf PD won’t be at GC but still committed.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) July 21, 2015
In reply to a question about the presence of Phantom Dust at Gamescom in August, Spencer denied that Phantom Dust will make an appearance, but stated that he’s still committed to the reboot.
In an interview last month, Xbox marketing head Aaron Greenberg mentioned that Phantom Dust was “a passion project” for Spencer, and that “the project is not cancelled but we don’t have an active developer on it right now”.
It remains to be seen how committed Microsoft actually is to the reboot, as it was widely reported that Microsoft refused to increase the budget for the game despite increasing their demands for game-play content.
However, Spencer has had a way of keeping his promises after taking over the helm at Xbox just one year ago, with the recent success of Xbox as a “gaming-first” platform easily attributable to his headstrong efforts.
So a Phantom Dust reboot might very well still be in our future, but does it really matter anymore?
