Xbox Studios head Matt Booty talks about the upcoming Perfect Dark remake and how it’s changing how we develop big titles.

Announced back at the 2020 Game Awards, many fans were excited for the return of Perfect Dark. Since the first game was released in 2000 and the prequel Perfect Dark Zero in 2005, fans have been waiting for well over a decade for a new title in the franchise. The remake was initially developed by Microsoft’s first-party studio, The Initiative, but work on the game has reportedly struggled from the start.

This led to Crystal Dynamics, the studio behind the recent Tomb Raider games, stepping in to help develop Perfect Dark.

Recently, Xbox Studios head Matt Booty spoke at a Q&A at PAX West about the decision to bring in Crystal Dynamics to help with the game. Booty said that just because Xbox has partnered with Crystal Dynamics doesn’t mean there’s a big “problem” with the development of Perfect Dark. Instead, the Xbox Studios chief said it was a logical move.

Referring to the “veteran team” at Crystal Dynamics, Booty said that “of course [Xbox] wants to work with them”. This was particularly true of Crystal Dynamics’ involvement in the game, as the studio had previously handled the revival of another franchise with Tomb Raider. Booty would not comment further on how development on Perfect Dark was progressing, but from his statements about working with Crystal Dynamics, it seemed that Xbox was not mainly involved with the work on the game.

Booty did not elaborate on Perfect Dark’s status, instead talking about how AAA titles are made in the modern gaming world.

According to the Xbox guru, working on large-scale games has become “much more complicated” as co-development is now included in many big releases. He referred to his work on Xbox’s Age of Empires 4, due for release in 2021, and Microsoft’s successful Flight Simulator, as that game resulted from a collaboration with a studio in France called Asobo.

Even though Matt Booty has stated that the development of Perfect Dark is just how AAA titles are made in modern times, some fans are still worried about the game’s future as Xbox hasn’t shown anything about it for a while. There were some expectations that the game would be there at the Xbox and Bethesda launch, but those hopes have been dashed as the reboot is still proving to be an elusive title.

Source: VGC