Matt Booty: Crystal Dynamics' Work on Perfect Dark Isn't a Sign of a Problem
Xbox Studios boss claims that Crystal Dynamics' involvement in the Perfect Dark creation does not mean problems in the development of the spy action game.
Speaking at a Q&A at PAX West 2022 that was held last weekend, the head of Xbox Studios boss Matt Booty touched upon various curious questions regarding the games industry including his thought on quality assurance and his "dream" to use AI bots instead of QA specialists.
In addition to this, Booty discussed the reasons for game delays that have been an ongoing issue lately noting that it is not only the pandemics that influenced them but also the challenges of adapting to new hardware, difficulties in QA testing more complex games, and the fact that a number of titles are nowadays created with multiple studios.
Speaking of the latter issue, Booty stated that the days when single studios were working on large-scale games are "long gone." According to him, game development is now evolving, so "the idea of a single team under one roof really doesn’t happen that often anymore."
As an example, the head of Xbox Game Studios referred to Perfect Dark, the title developed by The Initiative in partnership with Crystal Dynamics, saying that it was a natural decision to bring the experienced team to the creation of the game and that it was not a sign of problems in the development of the spy action game.
"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?" Booty said. "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."
Following Booty's comments, VGC editor Andy Robinson said that he spoke with both current and former employees of The Initiative, and, according to them, massive departures actually were a sign of problems.
"I've spoken to many current and former employees stating that the flood of departures very much is sign of a problem. Not with the multi studio setup – it was always their intention to partner with an experienced dev - but many seemingly had issues with Initiative leadership," Robinson wrote.
"I believe Crystal Dynamics coming on board will be positive for the project, partly because it's studio head Darrell Gallagher's old team. But the number of messages I have received suggests there have definitely been cultural issues there."
The fact that a number of The Initiative's executives have moved to other Xbox studios speaks for itself, Robinson says. And it is still unclear how this will ultimately affect Perfect Dark.
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