One game absent from the recent Xbox Games Showcase was The Intiative's anticipated reboot of Perfect Dark.
Fortunately, Xbox studio chief Matt Booty has provided a small but reassuring update during a chat with Axios, mentioning how he's actually been playing builds of the game and is looking forward to seeing what fans think of it when the project is finally unveiled.
“I've played builds. I looked at it. I'm very excited for people to see what we're doing.”
Again it is only a brief update, but it's nice to know development is still progressing. As for the departures at The Initiative during this time, Booty says it came down to differences in the approach to the project.
Crystal Dynamics (Rise of the Tomb Raider) was brought in to assist the new studio in September 2021. In its own update last November, it mentioned how the project was going "extremely well". And although its parent company Embracer Group has recently announced layoffs, Crystal Dynamics has reassured fans this will have no impact on its "continuing efforts" with its partners at The Initiative.
The new Perfect Dark game was originally unveiled at The Game Awards in 2020 and according to previous descriptions will bring the classic video game first-person spy thriller to a new generation of players.
Are you looking forward to this upcoming Xbox release? Comment below.
[source axios.com]
Comments 30
'Max Booty' - I refuse to believe this is a person and not the title of a 'special' video series.
Edit: Matt Booty! That'll teach me to comment before putting my glasses on.
2024, 2025 are gonna be two mega massive years for xbox. I suspect Playstation will have a dry spell in 2024, maybe a few third party exclusives to tie them over. And after 2023 closes, we'll be able to look back and see what a brilliant year it actually turned out to be, with Hi-Fi rush, Age of Empires, Goldeneye, pentiment, starfield, forza and more.
Embracer has reassured fans this will have no impact on its "continuing efforts" with its partners at The Initiative
Microsoft should explore a permanent takeover for the CD staff working on this game and seeing how Embracer are in a financial tight spot they'll probably agree.
@AndroidBango she’s very excited for fans to see it.
@Sol4ris and CD should then take the Tomb Raider franchise with them, I really enjoyed the reboot.
@Friendly Amazon now owns Tomb Raider - not Crystal Dynamics - although they are expecting to make the next TR for Amazon.
As for Perfect Dark, I can wait until its ready - no 'rush' - I have a LOT of games to play coming between now and its release...
I'd actually completely forgotten about this game. I'm going to go back and play the first two.
Don't have much hopes for this anymore
I loved the original way back on the N64, very much ahead of it's time in my view. Interested to see how this reboot turns out. (Please be good 👍)
I remember playing Perfect Dark on the 64, having to buy a graphics card or something, and then being blown away by how awesome it looked, sounded, and played. After being a massive fan of Golden eye, it was a perfect sucessor. The story of Perfect Dark was so out there and crazy it opened my mind to how much more creative games could be. The alien, for a starters, amazed me to the point my eyes watered from not blinking. And of course the co-op was really fun. Stayed up to early hours playing with my older brother.
Perfect Dark on 360 was, in my opinion, though dated now, was awesome. I had endless hours of fun playing with bots. Although, story wise it fell flat for me, that's not to say I didn't have fun, because I did, but I had wished it was more like the first one.
This time around, I'm excited to see how gritty and down on the ground it's gonna look. I suspect a more serious tone will be the direction of the game, yet at the same time, I would LOVE to have that whacky side to it, but fine if not. I understand this will stand a chance at being a Xbox mascot like Halo and Gears, so that would be cool. I kind of want it to be a Metal Gear esq game, wouldn't that be awesome. Either way, I'm excited to see what it turns out to be, and with it being on Gamepass, I don't have to worry about buying it haha
@BAMozzy oh, that’s a shame. Amazon releasing a game on xbox feels very unlikely.
N64 Perfect Dark, was a head of it's time, was amazing, you needed the expansion pack to play it for the N64. It was also and 18, the enemies swore at you when you shot them etc, was epic, headshots and swearing.
Also MP had insane bots, also you could give the AI patrol routes if you could be bothered, the scope was huge for MP.
I had so many ideas, really wanted to go back and setup some AI on MP to fight against, like a mini mission for my friends etc.
Great game!!
Really wish the game would be third person but I’ll also just be happy if it releases.
@BAMozzy Really? I must have missed that news piece. I also was under the impression that Amazon was just funding the next Tomb Raider game and that's it.
@Scummbuddy. Embracer sold the IP to Amazon and they are funding a tv show and a new game that will no doubt be a multi-plat
@old-dad @BAMozzy That "may" be true. I'm also seeing the following on news sites just now:
It is now being reported by Fellowship of Fans that Embracer has leased just the Tomb Raider IP to Amazon for $600 million. Their original story said that the rights were sold outright to Amazon, but they have since changed the wording to say "leased" to Amazon. Meaning that Amazon may not own the rights to the franchise but that they are permitted to do most anything with the IP that may include new games, other media like television, and even merchandise.
I haven't found further clarification yet. :/
@Scummbuddy Yeah - Amazon paid a reported $600m for Tomb Raider from Embracer - who bought it and several other IP's and Studio's from Square Enix for around $300m months before.
They are the ones that will be Funding Crystal Dynamics to make a 'new' Tomb Raider for Amazon to Publish. Whether it comes to 'ALL' platforms or whether Amazon would rather 'keep' it 'exclusive' (timed or otherwise) to their Luna service for example, its unknown right now.
I assume that CD are not being affected by the layoffs at Embracer because they have two games they are 'commissioned' to work on - Perfect Dark & Tomb Raider...
Amazon Games and Crystal Dynamics today announced they have reached an agreement under which Crystal Dynamics will develop a new multiplatform Tomb Raider title, with Amazon Games providing full support and publishing the game globally.
Taken directly from Amazon Games website.
I agree the information is somewhat vague about the rights but it seems Amazon will be funding and Publishing the next Tomb Raider.
I wonder how will they update the style because a lot of it seems outdated using weapons and gadgets
@BAMozzy the message is actually very clear. There is no mention of ownership because there is no chant in ownership. Amazon is simply going to publish the game (pay for development and publishing, because it’s become clear since then that Embracer is broke and can’t finance their own games anymore.)
I do think they have also struck a deal for TV/Movie content.
Edit: link
Amazon indeed is making a TV show; and a movie. Netflix is making an anime.
Still not expecting this one any earlier than fall 2025, most likely 2026.
Bloke knows how to spin his words!!! Look what he tweeted about the showcase ‘all in engine gameplay here, no cgi trailers’ etc etc.
Technically right, but deliberately misleading as nearly balls all was actual gameplay
I LOVED zero on the 360, one of the first games I picked up with the system. While it got mixed reviews I can just remember how good it looked and how difficult those achievements were! Haha
@Scummbuddy awesome update ! Hope ms gets the chance to purchase CD and Tomb Raider IP at some point.
@AndroidBango Regardless, life must been an experience for Mr. Booty. Imagine being the unfortunate person who had to interview him with a straight face. I would've been fired for snickering too much.
Guy who told us we should be excited for Redfall tells us we should be excited for Perfect Dark
@Zoidpilot4 I really hope they capture what made the original Perfect Dark so good. Part of it was that wacky side that you mentioned, but Zero was also wacky, and it somehow missed the mark. I think the original had just the right amount of wackiness, with a bit of subtlety and restraint- maybe that's it? Or maybe it's just that it was a certain British flavour of weird.
I'd also be down for a more serious thriller sort of spin on things, but it would have to be handled well, and feel somewhat authentic to Perfect Dark.
Definitely looking forward to seeing how this turns out!
PS: The N64 needed a RAM upgrade to run Perfect Dark. That's what the Expansion Pak was.
@smoreon RAM upgrade, thanks for that haha, it was bugging me for ages. And I agree with 100% what you said. I really hope the next one captures the essence of perfect dark, while introducing it to new players at the same time. A perfect dark 64 easter egg would be cool too
REALLY looking forward to this. I hope they don't mess this up, perfect dark was a large chunk of my childhood.
@Sol4ris Microsoft nabbing Crystal Dynamics would be a total win. The real secret would be using that power to make Gex the new mascot for Xbox lmao
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