Crystal Dynamics Partnering On Perfect Dark Was Too Good To Pass Up, According To Xbox

One announcement we didn't see coming last month was Crystal Dynamics partnering with The Initiative to help bring the new Perfect Dark game to the next generation.

Head of Xbox Game Studios, Matt Booty, elaborated on this surprise announcement (in the same appearance on the Kinda Funny Gamecast) - explaining how it was a partnership waiting to happen, and an opportunity Microsoft didn't want to pass up.

It seems one of the driving points, as suspected, was the fact The Initiative founder, Darrell Gallagher, was previously the head of Crystal Dynamics. It's also been highlighted how the Tomb Raider reboot director, Daniel Neuburger, was already part of the new Perfect Dark development team.

“I think we’re at a point in the industry where if you’ve got a team like the Crystal Dynamics team that becomes available, which has got great pedigree, good success, just a lot of skill, and through connections—you know, the fact we’ve got Daryl Gallagher at The Initiative, who knows some folks there—and they become available, going back to what are my jobs day-to-day, it would just be, I’d be remiss to [not] say ‘we’ve got to find a way to make this work’."

Matt Booty went on to explain how the partnership wasn't just the usual scenario - reiterating how there are actually some "personal connections" between the two studios, so it makes a lot of sense.

“We’ve got a team that’s got experience building the kind of thing that we’re building, who’s worked with some of the people that’s now available, you know, it was not a standard situation because they’re not usually out billing themselves as sort of a co-development studio like many places are, but we found a way to make it work and I think it was through some of the personal connections that we’ve got.

“So, I’m excited about it, just in terms of what it adds onto the team that we’ve already got there at The Initiative. And again, it’s too precious of a resource right now in the industry to not jump on that and we can figure out some way to get a contract done or whatever we’ve got to do.“

While it does sound like a rather promising match, The Initiative also noted in the announcement how the game is still "early in development". And although Crystal Dynamics is best-known for third-person action titles, the new entry in the Perfect Dark series is still being referred to as a "first-person" spy thriller.

How are you feeling about this partnership nearly a month later? Are you excited we're getting a new Perfect Dark game for Xbox? Leave a comment down below.