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Perfect Dark Reboot Being Co-Developed By Tomb Raider Dev Crystal Dynamics

Crystal Dynamics worked on numerous other games like the Tomb Raider reboot.

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The Initiative has announced that it is partnering up with Crystal Dynamics to work on the Perfect Dark reboot. Crystal Dynamics was the studio behind the Tomb Raider reboot back in 2013, as well as other titles like Legacy of Kain and last year's Marvel's Avengers.

Coincidentally, Darrell Gallagher, the studio head over at The Initiative, previously was at Crystal Dynamics. He was the head of studio working on the Tomb Raider series. While at Square Enix, he also worked on games such as Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.

Phil Spencer officially revealed The Initiative back in 2018, billed as a "AAAA" studio to make world class games. Members of the studio included God of War lead producer Brian Westergaard, Crystal Dynamics veteran Dan Neuburger, and Microsoft veteran Blake Fischer. Former Crystal Dynamics recruiter Lindsey McQueeney and Red Redemption 2 writer and designer Christian Cantamessa are part of the studio as well.

The studio's first project, the Perfect Dark reboot, was announced last year at The Game Awards. It will release on Xbox Series X|S and PC. Not much else is known about the game yet, but it'll be a major exclusive release for Microsoft platforms. The series hasn't seen a proper new entry since 2005's Perfect Dark Zero.

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dragonsama

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dragonsama

Considering the new Tomb Raider games were pretty good I'm excited by this!

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SabreDJ

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SabreDJ

The idiot fanboys are already trying to spin this into a negative that it's not. First, this happens all the time in game development. The Initiative is a new studio and only has 70 people. They are 70 amazingly talented people, but they can't do everything a AAA game would need.

Funny, should these same fanboys be nervous about God of War: Ragnarok since they are teaming up with Valkyrie Entertainment on the game's development as well?

No... of course not. This is nothing but a positive for both games getting to their full potential.

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PrpleTrtleBuBum

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PrpleTrtleBuBum

@sabredj: 70 people can do a lot. many amazing games made today have 1 or 3.

meanwhile games like mankind divided suffered because you could tell that this level was made by different people than that other area

ultimately this game can be good or bad but if initiative needs help for a reboot game, how will they handle any real game?

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SabreDJ

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SabreDJ

@PrpleTrtleBuBum: 70 people can do a lot for a AA game, or a AAA over 7 years. This is a "AAAA" game coined by observers, and they don't want to take 5-7 years.

If you need another example just look at Naughty Dog. They had multiple outside sources work on TLOU2. Including the very big Bend Studios. There may be controversy about the writing in that game, but no one will say it wasn't a technical marvel.

Add to that the head of The Initiative is formerly from Crystal Dynamics. Plus Square Enix having forced them to make a live service game they weren't built for, and this becomes a way for them to make up for lost profits, and an easy win for Crystal Dynamics and The Initiative.

The mental gymnastics it takes to try and spin this into a negative is ridiculous, and this is an Occam's Razor situation if there ever was one.

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BlueFlameBat

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BlueFlameBat

I think it's time for me to bite the bullet and figure out how to build an affordable gaming PC that lasts more than a few years if that's possible. I heard the Xbox Series controller has the same issues with the A button as the Xbox One controllers, and I prefer a mouse and keyboard when I play first-person shooters anyway.

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AfroMakka

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AfroMakka

Haahahaha

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Carpetfluff

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Edited By Carpetfluff

So they form a new MS AAA studio to create new games and the first thing they do is partner with an established studio to make their first game. Might as well just have had CD make the damn thing. Maybe MS needed a team that's totally cool with creating a single player experience and then ruining it with content designed to sell MTX.

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hardwenzen

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hardwenzen

FFS this better not be Crackdow 3 of this generation.

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EvilTyger

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EvilTyger

I got Perfect Dark Zero along with my 360 on launch day.

I logged a ton of hours on the multiplayer.

Also, I noted that there were several things from the Bungie forums about weapons that made their way into the game. (Predator Disk and swappable turret guns were two big ones I remember)

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jenovaschilld

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jenovaschilld

Oh shitballs, that is great news. CD is a great studio and the Tomb Raider reboots were very well done. A good strong budget and good lead director. Should be a decent game.

I wonder if it will be a xbox exclusive, multiplatform or a PS exclusive as CD and ex SQEnix could push the property that way. IT used to be a first part xbox iP, but Don Mattrick sold off all of those first party IPs back in 7th gen. Hmmm, anyway glad to see it get a reboot. I will be happy regardless of platform.

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MigGui

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MigGui

@jenovaschilld: it's an xbox exclusive, The Initiative is an Xbox Game Studio. The IP is owned by Microsoft, not Crystal Dynamics, they were hired as collaborators.

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JohnCrichton

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JohnCrichton

@jenovaschilld: I'd have been onboard with this... until CD absolutely botched Avengers. I was cautiously optimistic about this reboot, but now I've got serious doubts.

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jenovaschilld

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jenovaschilld

@JohnCrichton: @gamer112696: I am going to have to agree with gamer112, CD history has been rather good, and yes Avengers was a shitshow indeed. But it was a well crafted accounts developed game that was targeted towards one thing, ancillary sales and profit. I will of course wait for reviews, I am too old to jump on games at launch anymore, nor feel the pressure to do so. But if CD does the same thing with PD, then yes that is a pattern to be wary of.

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gamer112696

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gamer112696

@JohnCrichton: @JohnCrichton: Well the way I see it, Avengers was a very, very different type of game that they were used to making. They are known for making quality single player narrative experiences. Avengers was a multiplayer Game-As-A-Service that was filled with grinding and uninspiring loot like the majority of games that want to be a service. Hopefully they learned their lesson but as long as we don’t hear the words, “Game-As-A-Service”, I’m very confident it will be a good game.

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