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Crystal Dynamics claims Perfect Dark development is going ‘extremely well’

Kacho

Gold Member
That’s according to Crystal Dynamics and Eidos CEO Phil Rogers, who provided an update on the project during parent company Embracer Group earnings call on Thursday.

“We’re working on the iconic Perfect Dark game and the project is going extremely well,” Rogers said today (transcribed by VGC).

“What’s been so promising internally is seeing how our team took on this opportunity, a new way of working. If we think about the future of how we work, collaboration across studios, across time zones, across geographies, across different companies, will all become more common, so it is great to see the team at The Initiative and our team across Crystal studios working so well together.”

His comments echo those of Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty, who said in September that the days of single studios working on large-scale games are “long gone”.

During a PAX West Q&A, Booty said: “So, we just did this big partnership with Crystal Dynamics, and I read online, ‘oh, this must mean there’s a problem or something’ – it’s quite the opposite, right?

“You’ve got this veteran team at Crystal Dynamics, a big AAA team with over 100 people that becomes available. Of course we want to work with them, particularly if they’ve made a game like that before.

“And that’s how we’ve done an awful lot of work. If you think about Age of Empires 4 which just launched last fall, that was made in partnership with Relic Studios up in Vancouver, great partnership. And even something like Flight Simulator, we worked with a studio in France called Asobo.

“And that kind of co-development, when you’re working out with people like Certain Affinity, Iron Galaxy, Blackbird, all those studios are so key to the products that we make.

“That, though, also adds some complexity where if one of those studios has problems it then impacts the schedule.

“So the days are gone when you can sort of go ‘everybody, round up the team in the cafeteria, I want to tell everybody to work harder this Wednesday.’ That’s long gone, it’s gotten a lot more complicated than that.”

More at the link:

I've been vocal about my concern with The Initiative and the development of Perfect Dark, much to the dismay of certain posters here. Anyway, sounds like pulling Crystal Dynamics was the right call. I have faith in them to deliver AAAA goodness.
 

KyoZz

Tag, you're it.
Despite Avengers, who was more of an obligation by Square, I really think Crystal Dynamics is a solid studio.
So wait and see, but the part when Booty said "particularly if they’ve made a game like that before." is encouraging, as I LOVED Shadow of the Tomb Raider (best TR since Anniversary imo)
 

Kacho

Gold Member
It might be because of this, "Anyway, sounds like pulling Crystal Dynamics was the right call. I have faith in them to deliver AAAA goodness."
Thats just a reference to what the Initiative said this game would be. Perhaps they needed CD to carry some of the As?

CD is a good studio and their work on Tomb Raider was excellent. Gives me high hopes for this.
 

Kacho

Gold Member
The people who wrote the Tomb Raider reboot games are making this? I really don't want another perpetually unsure female protagonist with confidence problems that refuse to go away, even after multiple games. Make her a badass. The writers should watch The Long Kiss Goodnight, if they need some inspiration.
No, the narrative lead is with the Initiative and her name is Christine Thompson. She was apparently the lead writer for Destiny 2 and the *checks notes* Rise of Iron expansion.

I really have no idea what to expect. She has pronouns in her Twitter bio so YMMV.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
Thats just a reference to what the Initiative said this game would be. Perhaps they needed CD to carry some of the As?

CD is a good studio and their work on Tomb Raider was excellent. Gives me high hopes for this.

No such thing as AAAA. Throwaway comment by Initiative which they’ve tried to erase since then.

Looks like Ezekiel_ Ezekiel_ wasn’t too far off the mark this time 😀
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Cool. Lets see it at the VGAs next month.

In gameplay form this time.

Too early, I think. CD didn't formally join the project till a few months ago IIRC.

It might be because of this, "Anyway, sounds like pulling Crystal Dynamics was the right call. I have faith in them to deliver AAAA goodness."

We don't need to justify what Ezekiel_ Ezekiel_ does in his spare time :messenger_smiling:
 
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No such thing as AAAA. Throwaway comment by Initiative which they’ve tried to erase since then.

Looks like Ezekiel_ Ezekiel_ wasn’t too far off the mark this time 😀
He's not all bad. His post history is actually pretty calm and reserved. He just happens to laugh nonstop at anything related to Xbox. No biggie. We've all seen The Joker. Some people can't help it 🤷

ZljZAl5.jpg
 
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Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Thats just a reference to what the Initiative said this game would be. Perhaps they needed CD to carry some of the As?

CD is a good studio and their work on Tomb Raider was excellent. Gives me high hopes for this.
Eh, CD's last good game Rise of the Tomb Raider, which was released nearly a decade ago (Brian Horton was the game director that later left for Insomniac and made Miles Morales).

Their recent games have been decreasing in quality since key people left. Rise of the Tomb Raider > Shadow of the Tomb Raider > Avengers. I wouldn't put too much trust in them.

The Initiative is now a shell of their initial setup, so it's not like CD will be getting a ton of support from them. They're pretty much on their own. So I'm expecting an average CD-level like game from them -- SOTR or Avengers quality -- unless something changes drastically and it turns out to be a nice surprise.
 

Jigsaah

Gold Member
More at the link:

I've been vocal about my concern with The Initiative and the development of Perfect Dark, much to the dismay of certain posters here. Anyway, sounds like pulling Crystal Dynamics was the right call. I have faith in them to deliver AAAA goodness.
Sounds to me like Crystal Dynamics is taking over, as opposed to lending a helping hand. I swear if this game mimics Tomb Raider I'm going to be very disappointed. I really hope they innovate.

Don't get me wrong. I loved the Tomb Raider reboots...but I don't want another game to be reminiscent of it. Need something new.
 
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CamHostage

Member
I hope I'm wrong, but I have a bad feeling about this and the new Fable game. It seems like MS gave both games to the wrong studios.

Like I said, I really hope I'm wrong because these are two franchises I love and have been waiting years to get new games.

I see your point, but shit happens in game development. (And sometimes, after the shitstorm clears, that shit leads to good results!) Ultimately, all that matters is that a good game gets released, and the ugly look we may see from the outside doesn't mean that these won't turn out to be good choices for the final game.

...The problem is more that MS's PR on this wasn't great IMO, that they were hand-waving away the Initiative/Crystal Dynamics "partnership" when tons of lead team members had left Initiative after it was billed as this ultra-rockstar studio. Plus, they announced the game and ran a teaser too early, based on work from a team that went on to drop several creative heads, so it doesn't make sense why MS is pitching this "business as usual" PR. (Yes, The Initiative was supposedly always going to integrate collaboration, but if the Game Director and several other leads leave midway through the project, you are no longer the rockstar, you are now the rhythm section.) Ultimately though, all that matters is that a good game gets released. If it turns out that The Inititative never makes a game again but the Crystal Dynamics infusion helps create a good game, that's a win; and if this test fire The Inititative had to go through to really figure out its trajectory works out and they make another great game after PD using co-development patterned after this one, even better.

I don't like their PR on this one and it has clouded up the project for me too at this time, but PR does not make video games.

(*BTW, we don't know the story behind the Fable / Eidos relationship, but it does not seem to be the same as the PD situation. Leaders of the project at Playground St Albans House are still there leading their project.)
 
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Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
I see your point, but shit happens in game development. (And sometimes, that shit leads to good results.) Ultimately, all that matters is that a good game gets released, and the ugly look we see from the outside of changes doesn't mean that these won't turn out to be good changes for the final game.

MS's PR on this wasn't great IMO, that they were hand-waving away the Initiative/Crystal Dynamics "partnership" when tons of lead team members had left Initiative and it was billed as this ultra-rockstar studio. Plus, they announced the game and ran a teaser too early and with a team that changed many creative heads, so it doesn't make sense why they're pitching this "business as usual" PR. Ultimately though, all that matters is that a good game gets released. If it turns out that The Inititative never makes a game again but the Crystal Dynamics infusion helps make for a good game, that's a win.

(*BTW, we don't know the story behind the Fable / Eidos relationship, but it does not seem to be the same as the PD situation. Leaders of the project at Playground St Albans House are still there leading their project.)
There was that guy who said that Playground didn't have enough devs for an AAA RPG and that most of them had only worked on racers
 

CamHostage

Member
There was that guy who said that Playground didn't have enough devs for an AAA RPG and that most of them had only worked on racers

So, here's that guy...

Playground Games started up a whole new office and filled it with new staff. It's not just the same Playground Games of the Forza Horizons who are working on Fable.

(Also, designers who work on racers can work on lots of other types of games. Racing engines also can convert well for other game use. Fable is a long leap, even Lionhead didn't fully get where they wanted to go with it, but "they're all a bunch of car nuts" should IMO be the least of the worries for that project.)
 
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yurinka

Member
Nice to hear. Let's hope they can share something soon, but I assume we'll still have to wait for a while because it may be too soon.
 

Represent.

Represent(ative) of bad opinions
If this game doesn’t impress I’m selling the fuck out of my series X

Deliver. For once. Please

If this is an uncharted style game then I’m excited for it
 
More at the link:

I've been vocal about my concern with The Initiative and the development of Perfect Dark, much to the dismay of certain posters here. Anyway, sounds like pulling Crystal Dynamics was the right call. I have faith in them to deliver AAAA goodness.
Yeah, we know how good Crystal Dynamics are and the Initiative is filled with incredible talent from across the industry (only issue was they aren't a very big studio). Hopefully we see some gameplay next E3.
 

Bernkastel

Ask me about my fanboy energy!

Bernkastel

Ask me about my fanboy energy!
An interesting story about Perfect Dark
The original was made by Rockstar San Diego for PS2. Luis Gigliotti(Preject Leader), Joe Sanabria(environment artist), Charles Morrow(art director), Darrell Gallagher(lead artist), and William Kidwell(environment artist) went to Cairo and almost risked getting jailed just for taking pictures to use as a reference for cairo. They had taken over 12,000 photos and almost risked getting jailed at Egypt.
While there is a certain poetry to the development team making Agent, a game about spies, getting caught up in a small international crisis, their work on the game never reached players; Rockstar North took over Agent’s development when the team at Rockstar San Diego was moved over to developing the first Red Dead Redemption.
The quoted post was about Rockstar San Diego's Agent which was cancelled first and different from the PS3 exclusive Rockstar North version of Agent. Well, Darrell Gallagher just so happens to lead this new studio and Perfect Dark happens to be set in Egypt.
 
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Kacho

Gold Member
No bad thing if it was but it's Perfect Dark it has to be a FPS. I can't remember the last time I was blown away by a FPS, hopefully they are making something fresh and innovative 🤞
Yep. Keeping with tradition. Hope they stay true to other things like replayable levels with multiple objectives.
 
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FBeeEye

Banned
It's gonna be the Tomb Raider reboot but with Joanna Dark instead of Lara.
GOW:R is basically Tomb Raider with a bald dude. Not a bad thing necessarily but they all have the same formula. I expect PD to be more unique with some hacking and stealth and lots of gadgets. But it can't stray too far from the formula.
 
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