The Initiative is partnering with Crystal Dynamics on Perfect Dark reboot

The Initiative writes: "Perfect Dark update! We are partnering with Crystal Dynamics, the world class team behind character-driven games such as Tomb Raider, to bring this first-person spy thriller to a new generation."

[FallenAngel1984]

Strange turn of events

[Orchard]

Yeah… this totally came out of left field.

[MastaMold]

Its totally obvious that is reboot is in trouble that Microsoft has to hire a third party Dev team to help with this first party game when this game was announced what almost a year ago

[gamingtext2020]

That’s interesting, wasn’t the Initiative supposed to be MS’s AAAA studio?

Why do they need help from Crystal Dynamics?

In any case, we have to wait and see.

[Orchard]

Perhaps to speed up development?

Building a new AAA studio is hard in an industry with such a small talent pool - and COVID slowed down hiring even more so since people don’t want to have uncertainty, move or change healthcare etc.

[FlavorLav01]

Many companies outsource to complete a game, most don’t give a press release like this to announce the new “partnership”. Sounds to me like another MS studio doesn’t know the full direction to take their project in, and they’re bringing in an established veteran team to help guide them.

Also this game is also in early development. Nobody is rushing them to any set finish line or release date. If they’re having no troubles with the project, why not let this new All-Star team take their time and really deliver us something special like only they could 🤔?

[Teflon02]

Probably same reason Nintendo had Bandai assist in Smash Bros

[Lightning77]

With Drew Murray leaving prematurely it really did affect the development of the game. Considering he worked at CD at one point. A CD partnership is not crazy surprising considering MS history with them. Still out of left field though.

[CaptainHenry916]

It's the same thing I was thinking. Another thing, They announced this game a year ago, and they're still in "early development" What have they been doing? And now they're bringing in outside help to finish the game 🤔😂

To speed up early development? They can't do that by themselves? Kena just came out, and only 15 people develop the game, and it didn't take that long either with good review scores 🤔

[Sayai jin]

You are trting to compare a small AA studios game to a AAAA studio and game. Just stop.

[crazyh0rse]

it's the same thing as God of War Ragnarok getting help from valkyrie entertainment

[FlavorLav01]

If that was the case, where was the large PR announcement for that “partnership”. There’s a difference in development help on a ship already set sail versus help getting off the starting block, which is what Crystal Dynamics is doing for Xbox in this instance.

[isarai]

Exactly what i thought

[rakentaja]

The Initiative is not a big studio, and you probably won't be able to acquire hundreds of people in three years if you want to create something big and awesome, so all you have left is to cooperate with larger studios that already have the workforce.

[chiefJohn117]

Perhaps to work on a MP portion while the Initiative focus on the main SP Part of the game

[spicelicka]

Many studios get help from other studios. I don't think you understand how game development works.

[moriarty1889]

Also, who knows when this game will ever actually come out either. This game along with fable and Everwild have been in development for a while and NOTHING even said or shown on them. Everwild showed a little and then complete radio silence.

[Godmars290]

Wait, what is "The Initiative"? Something directly under/involving MS?

If so, why announce a reboot before having its devs lined up?

[porkChop]

The Initiative is a new studio that Xbox built from the ground up. They're the main dev, but Crystal Dynamics is helping them out.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

I very much liked Tomb Raider (2013) and Rise of the Tomb Raider. Therefore,I personally believe, Crystal Dynamic would be good co-developer [or support studio] for the Perfect Dark reboot.

As an aside, Square Enix probably wants to make back funds lost on their Avengers title. Thus, taking a supportive, or co- development contract from MS makes sense.

[Profchaos]

Doubt they would have lost much Disney paid them to produce it and it still.sold really well even if it's popularity nose dived.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

Or did Square Enix pay Disney for a development license? Plus, sources point to Square-Enix losing money on the Avengers ( https://www.google.com/amp/...

[jznrpg]

You forgot that they made the next 2 Tomb Raiders that weren’t nearly as good as the reboot

[Concertoine]

Not true - they made Rise of the Tomb Raider after the reboot which some argue is the best of the trilogy.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is the least well received, and was made by Eidos - not Crystal Dynamics

[NotanotherReboot]

Sony cancelled Killzone and Resistance so they cant compete with this and Halo

[13sentinel]

Halo is a shell of other former self, don't come here with these jokes.

[TheDoomedGuy]

What do you mean canceled?

Was there a new resistance and kilzone in the works that i wasn't aware of?

[SlothLordPootus]

As much as I would love a true Killzone 4 and Resistance 4, I completely understand Sony's move to not compete in the FPS space. Halo can make a dent because of its historic popularity, but even then, Battlefield and Call or Duty overshadow Halo. With the PS franchises, spending time on Killzone as opposed to Horizon, or Resistance instead of Spider-Man, doesn't really make sense for them.

[sourOG]

Strange. You just bought a bunch of studios and the new studio you just created partners with a company you don’t own? Something is up, some serious favors going on.

[NotanotherReboot]

maybe MS are buying Crustal Dynamics

[TheDoomedGuy]

World class team???? Besides the first game i wouldn't say their character writing is good at all.

This is a sure sign that the initiative doesn't know what they're doing.

[TornRaptor]

Sure buddy, other studios don't outsource all the time, do they.

[FlavorLav01]

They don’t typically advertise it like this either though. It is interesting, it’s their first project, should be in no rush, and already needing outside help in early development. Might be nothing, but doesn’t sound great either.

[TheDoomedGuy]

Outsourcing is perfectly fine and you're correct. When you have a spectacular team working on a project there is very little outsourcing and even then it's usually small stuff not anything major.

This makes me heavily concerned for perfect dark and I really want it to be good.

[TornRaptor]

@FlavorLav01 https://twitter.com/GameRan...
God of War: Ragnarok Getting Help from Valkyrie Entertainment
Might be nothing, but doesn’t sound great either.

[ecchiless]

but this is not outsourcing this is coop dev, not the same thing and btw valkyrie team dont make AAA games like CD so your comparison with GOW is dumb, theres also no record in recent years were a big AAAA studio need the help of a AAA studio to coop dev a game...

[TornRaptor]

It's my understanding that AAAA was a mistype and only still quoted by a certain fan base. The Initiative is a 70 person studio so them bringing on a 300 person studio to help is no different to Santa Monica Studio a large studio with over 250 people bringing on smaller studios to help them. It's also The Initiatives first game where as for Santa Monica Studio has made have made 7 and still need help? Yeah, that's what happens in gamedev these days, they all bring in help. Look at the credits for Ubi games, there's thousands of people working on their games and most of them are support studios of various sizes.

[SlothLordPootus]

I love the Tomb Raider games, but the writing is absolutely horrible all throughout the trilogy. Besides that though, I think Crystal Dynamics is talented.

[Concertoine]

What makes you think CD is writing the game??

I’m sure theyre being brought on for technical prowess and not writing or story. The plot is always the first thing outlined. These reactions are overblown. This is MS trying to expedite development. They chose a developer with experience in third person action games which means it’ll likely be third person.

[Pancit_Canton]

So much for a *AAAA* studio that Microsoft has been bragging about. If an Indie developer like blue point can remake a game to its glory without help from other studio. Now, I questioned the capabilities of that studio?

[dbcoops]

Are you saying the Initiative aren't showing much initiative?

[Pancit_Canton]

Yup. The irony of that 😆.

It looks like they went too ambitious and shot themselves in the foot. Not a good sign for a newly formed studio.

[Atom666]

Yeah, imagine if Bluepoint outsourced work on Demon's Soul. That'd be crazy.

https://www.gamerbraves.com...

[ecchiless]

but this one is not outsourcing, the game is been coop dev with CD, when you outsource parts of your game you dont make an announcement telling that you are doing coop dev game with another dev, plus those studios focus on making assets, they dont get involved on AI, Story, etc... here CD gonna be involved on those aspects.

Also, mostly none of those studios that worked with BP or are working with SM have made their own games and the ones that did it are not AAA or AA game studios.

[Atom666]

Ok?

I was responding to console warrior #245's stupid post above.

To you, I'd say: WTF is the difference? Or actually, isn't teaming with a full fledged studio that has the talent and experience to complete a ship a big budget SP game...a good thing? Is that what's triggered the faithful so much?

I have questions about Square's financial well being based on how much they've been willing to whore themselves out. But I don't doubt that a new "AAAA" studio would need to outsource a shit load of work.

Throwing a fat check to SE for Crystal's help is far smarter than piecing it out like 343 did.

And even if they used every last janitor at Crystal to help, it'd still only be about a 1/4 of the number of contractors Naughty Dog, Ubisoft, or Rockstar burn through to ship a game.

[Magog]

Isn't this a little late? Have they had to reboot the entire game? Another "AAAA" game stuck in development hell...

[Absonite]

This game is gonna suck dog shit anyways. N64 forever.

[ZwVw]

With the rumors about development starting from scratch, perhaps The Initiative ditched UE5 in favor of CD's propriety engine

[lellkay]

"AAAA" studio needing help from Avengers team.
lol

[jznrpg]

AAAA needs an outside team ? Hehe

[rakentaja]

If you think that if one studio helps another, it's too much and there's cause for concern, what do you think of this article? Let's not forget that this is one of the best studios in the world, who needed a so-called "small" helping hand.
https://www.vg247.com/the-l...

[ecchiless]

you ppl can be this dumb, you guys are comparing studios that focus to make assets to a full game dev AAA studio..... also outsourcing is not equal to coop dev the game, like in this case.

[chiefJohn117]

Avengers lineup. They already hired an Allstars team of dev that worked on hit games now this partnership. It's like the Avengers teamed up with Justice league lol. AAAA? Nope, it's AAAAA!!!!

[thesoftware730]

This is a great news! CD is awesome, I loved all 3 of the Tomb Raider reboots. They know how to produce some sweet graphics, and make a good single player game.

I like Avengers as well, and the graphics are really nice.

[Baza]

The Marvels Avengers Crystal Dynamics…yikes.

[JayRyu]

The Rise of the Tomb Raider Crystal Dynamics. Yes!

MS needs to either buy them from Square or buy Square.

[moriarty1889]

when are they ever going to show something about this game?

[SpineSaw]

My thought is..why would The Initiative the AAAA Studio need to team with anyone on their first project? Microsoft made clear The Initiative had the top talent in the world from the top Game Dev teams in the world and they started development back in 2018 on not a new IP but a reboot you can call it what you want but it looks more like a bailout than a team up.

[moriarty1889]

Yeah it seems other than Playground or The Coalition, MS devs cant seem to create a quality game anymore. All those studios acquired and NOTHING to show for games yet. Pitiful.

[attilayavuzer]

MS devs have released 2 GOTY contenders in the last month w/ Psychonauts and Deathloop.

[ecchiless]

@atti

:facepalm:

Yes the studios belong now to MS, but those games were already been made way before the purchase.

[Petebloodyonion]

And how many devs did they hired since the start of the project?
Let's see, I'm sure that you need 300 + dev for creating game concepts, gameplay mechanics, graphics, characters, stories, level layout, enemies types, etc.
You know the process made by artists, storyteller, game director and other.
So perhaps they actually started to hire the bulk of programers and game developers after having all the groundwork done
And since 2019 I guess it's been quite easy to find 200 and + talented programmers living in the area of Santa Monica to start a whole new career at the Initiative.

Actually, now that I Clearly see how Microsoft screwed up again, I'm wondering why we're having PS5 Shortage, Sony should solve that issue after a year no?

[SpineSaw]

Well now I guess if you can see that "Microsoft screwed up again" then it would be no surprise that the screw up would require a bailout to fix what clearly is multiple problems. I'm sure things will work out just fine Microsoft can buy their way out of any problem this one is no big deal.

[FlavorLav01]

The entire world is having a semi-conductor/chip shortage or have you been under a rock. No one company is solving that problem right now. Not a great comparison or reasoning for what either Xbox is going through and their continued drought of big games or Sony and their inability to keep up with console demand.

[Stanjara]

AAAA---a?