Perfect Dark's Game Director Appears To Have Left The Initiative

uh oh spaghettio

@StarWarsBoom My thoughts exactly. While games have turned out to be really good even with troubled development like Perfect Dark has had so far, this is never a good sign. It's also a bad sign that Microsoft can't keep people at the development studio they put together themselves.

@KilloWertz nobody can right now as people are getting pouched And also a ton of new money is flooding the industry tk start new studios from investors is floating around this may not he indicative of the project (I could be wrong) but we have seen this alot in the last 6-12 months
Most have non compete clauses so they have to wait out the timeframe then their new studios gets announced.

Well until I see actual footage of this game, I’m going to leave in the box.

That said I thought they brought in Crystal Dynamics because of this specific director.

Well let’s hope they are managed and focused better than the 750 employee strong 343i
Microsoft have all these studios now, they need to set and manage game goals and objectives
With milestone targets etc.
we know Turn 10, Playground games, coalition seem to be set up well and deliver so they have good examples in their camp.

Seems like a 343 situation all over again

It seems difficult to keep people together even without any pressure these days. Perhaps Phil Spencer should have people supervising all the teams and seeing what's wrong in 343 Industries, The Initiative... This reminds me when successful music bands disband and then they realise they're better together so they come back but it's not the same. Or those amazing developers that leave their teams just to end up making crappy mobile/console games.

I'd say acquire Crystal Dynamics and merge it with The Initiative but it's owned by Square Enix. In any case, I hope that Perfect Dark 3 is great.

@Banjo- I think the priority is to sort out the already acquired studios, especially the XGS teams like 343 and Initiative. Studios under Bethesda and Activision already have a good deal of autonomy and as long as Xbox doesn't strongly mess with them they are efficient. But the state of some XGS teams is a mess.

@BrilliantBill Good point. The Initiative are not used to work on their own as other studios that are better built and whose autonomy is positive, e.g., the Bethesda and Activision teams. 343 Industries is a huge team and still needed external assistance for basic things like game cohesion. The Initiative have great talents but they probably need proper leadership.

That said, The Initiative and Perfect Dark may be alright.

@mousieone The Initiative was set-up with Darrell Gallagher as the Studio Head - He was also at Crystal Dynamics and served as the Studio Head there (among other roles)

Daniel Neuburger was the director of Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider and was recruited by Darrell.

If you look at a LOT of 'senior' Directors, they do tend to move around to different projects - and for some, the only way to move into 'more' senior roles is to 'leave' because that role is currently filled at their current studio. Its possible that he is moving on to another project as he has 'finished' his role on this. Having Directed the cut-scenes and 'story', now moving on whilst the Studio focus on filling in the Game-play sections that lead into the 'next' cut-scene...

I don't worry about these departures, its not always a 'crisis'. The Initiative 'poached' staff from companies like Crystal Dynamics, Naughty Dog, Sony Santa Monica etc and you don't hear people saying all those studio's next games must therefore be in trouble...

@Banjo- Given how Square Enix says everything made by their western studios underperform and then they end up on Game Pass I wouldn't be surprised if Square Enix sells Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, etc. to Microsoft.

I still think making this Dev, full of top talent, make a Perfect Dark game was a mistake. With a Dev team like that MS should have give them freedom to create a new IP.

@BAMozzy It's a bit different when a person leaves in the middle of a game being developed and when a person gets pouched after the fact.

Still, you could be right that most of his job was already done. I doubt it was completely as I doubt it's much different than making a movie where the director's job is not actually done until the movie is completely finished.

In the end, we'll see what happens with Perfect Dark. This doesn't mean that Perfect Dark won't end up being pretty good. The main concern is how it seems like some of Xbox's internal studios are a mess (excluding Turn 10, Playground, and The Coalition), and that is concerning from a gamer's perspective if they have trouble managing their own studios that they didn't just buy. Again, obviously we'll see how it all ends up.

@Grumblevolcano Yep, I don't think that Square Enix support their Western IPs/studios very much.

@Fenbops Perfect Dark is an old IP with two entries (excluding the GBC game) so I don't think that rebooting it entails creativity concerns.

@KilloWertz Its always going to be more 'difficult' for a completely new studio setting up without a 'back catalogue' and building up a Staff team. Its a bit different to recruiting for a studio with a 'clear' identity so you know what type of Projects they are likely to make.

The difference with a Movie to a Video Game is that the 'story' part is NOT the 'entire' game. You can script every interaction, direct 'every' cut scene and build the 'entire' campaign - before 'filling' in the gaps between the story with the 'game-play' sections that link up every cut-scene. Games like Perfect Dark in the past also had a MP suite too which may also be in 'development' long after the Cut-scenes.

As a 'director', he may well of directed all the cut-scenes. Its now up to the 'game' developers to link those in a 'cohesive' way to go from the 'environment' of the last cut-scene to the next with the player controlled 'game-play' - getting those working to provide a 'complete' package.

With a Film, its basically just 1 long cutscene - there are 'no' player controlled areas between the 'story' beats that need to be built, optimised and inserted between the Cut-scenes. Maybe even add side quests or 'extra' mission objectives based on Difficulty modes etc but the actual 'story' could of been 'finished' and now its all about the 'game-play' sections, MP suite...

People leave jobs. It happens in every industry. This means nothing about the state of game.

Unless he publicly states he was unhappy you cannot assume anything. Maybe his family is relocating, maybe he got a better offer somewhere else, etc. It is foolish to jump to any conclusions based on 2 people leaving.

@Somebody I agree and it's likely that The Initiative and Perfect Dark are perfectly fine. It's just that we are discussing a new studio and the reboot of a N64/Xbox 360 franchise so it's a very mysterious situation.

I'm really happy about Battletoads, Perfect Dark and Fable coming back. Banjo-Kazooie, Viva Piñata and Conker should be next.

I wonder when we are going to see something on this game. I feel like we should have seen a bit more by now. Hopefully at E3 this year we will finally see something.

I've been concerned with Xbox being able to manage their studies and this just fuels that fire.