Xbox Game Studios boss, Matt Booty, has discussed how Xbox “jumped at the chance” to work with Crystal Dynamics on its upcoming Perfect Dark reboot.
In an interview with Kinda Funny Games and transcribed by VGC, Booty explained the thought process behind Xbox’s plans:
“I think we’re at a point in the industry where if you’ve got a team like the Crystal Dynamics team that becomes available, which has got great pedigree, good success, just a lot of skill, and through connections—you know, the fact we’ve got Daryl Gallagher at The Initiative, who knows some folks there—and they become available, going back to what are my jobs day-to-day, it would just be, I’d be remiss to [not] say ‘we’ve got to find a way to make this work’.”
As he continued, “we’ve got a team that’s got experience building the kind of thing that we’re building,” citing how this isn’t a “standard situation” but that “we found a way to make it work and I think it was through some of the personal connections that we’ve got.”
In September, Xbox announced that it had signed the Square Enix studio behind the Tomb Raider series and Marvel’s Avengers to co-develop the Perfect Dark reboot which is the debut title from its new in-house studio, The Initiative.
The new studio head is former Crystal Dynamics head, Darrell Gallagher, while former game director on the Tomb Raider series, Daniel Neuburger is in charge of the Perfect Dark project.
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As Booty put it, he’s “excited about it”.
Previously, the Perfect Dark reboot was announced at The Game Awards in December 2020 with The Initiative confirmed to be working on the game last month.
In the same interview, Booty explained that he wants Xbox to make more PlayStation-style blockbusters in future.