Perfect Dark's Development Troubles Highlight Growing Pains

The prolonged development cycle for the Perfect Dark reboot demonstrates the difficulty in reviving a classic espionage IP in the modern era.

[rlow1]

I just want to see more about this game. After this much time, it better be good. Because after Halos debacle launch, Xbox can’t have another one of those.

[Number1TailzFan]

Yeah, i really enjoyed Goldeneye 64 and Perfect Dark as well back in the day, but after getting into PC gaming in 99 it's just so hard to play some games with a controller, FPS games being the obvious #1 target here. Can't wait to see what it's like, here's to hoping it stays true to the original and i might have to get it on PC, especially if it has decent online multiplayer on top of a great campaign.

[mark_parch]

What do you mean 'all this time' it only got revealed 2 years ago.

[Crows90]

No debacle?

Remember fable legends? Crackdown 3? Scale bound? Halo 5? Sea of thieves is just another live service that had really poor support. I'd say most of their games have been a debacle....don't think that'll change soon.

[1Victor]

@crows and that’s the reason along with the monopoly why I’m afraid of Microsoft buying ABK

Microsoft is horrible at managing studios and we are supposed to believe that a miracle will happen and they’re going to have all those amazing games coming down the pipeline monthly with all the bells and whistles of the generations

[porkChop]

Fair point with most of those, except for Sea of Thieves. I can't agree with that. As someone's who's actually played the game, it factually did not have "poor support". It launched with far too little content but it didn't stay that way. Tons of content and QoL improvements have been added to the game since then. It's not quite a NMS turnaround but it's far better support than gamers usually get.

[Workshyskiver]

Sea of Thieves has had poor support? What on earth are you talking about, its one of the best supported live service games there is.

[sadraiden]

@1victor not like AB is doing well with their studios themselves. turning every game into a f2p model, hoping for whales to save your company, isn't a great plan.

[Lightning77]

"Sea of thieves is just another live service that had really poor support."

You know how many expansions that game has? It has quite a bit so how is it getting "poorly supported"

[Jin_Sakai]

What a shit show over at Xbox Studios. Everything seems to be in turmoil at this point.

[-Foxtrot]

I just think after Halo it makes you think about their other games

Perfect Dark has had development troubles

Rare has shown us nothing on Everwild and lets be honest Sea of Thieves wasn't all that great

Gears of War seems to be missing in action, this was a massive franchise for them next to Halo

State of Decay 3 is still missing

Fable is another

I mean don't get me wrong we still have Redfall, Avowed, Starfield, The Outer Worlds 2 etc but these were things already being developed by Zenimax's studios before being bought.

[shinoff2183]

Starfield outer worlds and state of decay are about what I'm looking forward to. O and can't forget fallout way way down the line

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

"but these were things already being developed by Zenimax's studios before being bought."

Hence why Microsoft is buying established multiplatform studios with their own long term foundation that way there's no way in hell they can mess those up unless a grest number of key people leave.

[mkis007]

Yes but what comes next? Does MS have the managerial talent to start something rather than just coming in after it has begun? With this many studios?

[sparky77]

Sea of Thieves is Rare's most successful game and one of the few GaaS successes in recent times. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's not a great game.

[-Foxtrot]

It’s not a good game, it took them years to get it to a point which is acceptable

The launch was awful

If you like barebone shit fair enough but most of us don’t

[sparky77]

It is a good game or no one would still be playing it after all these years.

Fortnite was terrible at launch look at it now.
No Mans Sky was terrible at launch look at it now.
FF14 was terrible at launch look at it now.

And on and on and on.

Most GaaS games suck at the start but the good ones find their way and succeed like SoT. You don't have to like GaaS, most hardcore gamers who are on these sites don't, but saying SoT is a flop and a bad game is just an out right lie.

[sadraiden]

GaaS is a cancer on gaming. It's a shitty business model meant to separate you from your cash in insidious, come-back-tomorrow-for-even-mo re-exploitation ways.

If you like it, fine, but yeah, they're not actually good games.

[Rude-ro]

The only “perceived” success of that game was Microsofts paid streamer sponsorships and kids who watched them.

[RedDevils]

"doesn't mean it's not a great game." Yeah, it's a shit game.

[tbagmonster]

foxtrot, what are you getting elswhere thats better, gas games dont exist on playstation excpet the ones that are everywher else

[Sonic1881]

Hellblade as well. How long has it been? They are probably still in the early stages

[Lightning77]

Speculation it'll be out late this year.

[Sonic1881]

Source and confirmation

[Lightning77]

https://twistedvoxel.com/xb...

I do heavy research all across the internet all the time I don't just sit on here for info because they don't post juicy rumors or even certain news here you'll miss out on ALLOT of news if this this is the only site you use. At least that's what I noticed. Always scour the internet for info and news not just N4G.

The game started in 2019 it'll be 4 years in development later this year. That's why I was confused on your statement on the game being early development. Unless the game had dev issues but I haven't heard anything like that so far.

[Sonic1881]

That's a rumor not official release date

[Lightning77]

That's why I called it "speculation " it's definitely not in early development no matter how bad you want it to be.

[Sonic1881]

"Definitely not in early development no matter how bad you want it to be."

Why would I want that? 🤔🤔

[Lightning77]

Because the info was obvious. Why would it be early stages? That makes no sense.

[ModsDoBetter]

I agree on all but Sea of Thieves.
That game is a gem to play with mates now.
Granted, at launch it was lackluster.

I hope the event in a few days has some updates on the likes of PD, Gears, SoD, etc but they have said it isn’t an “E3 scale show” so I’m not holding my breath. Over two years into this generation and there’s.….very little on Xbox compared to the competitors.

[sadraiden]

Expecting a Gears 6 when Gears 5 came out only 3 years ago, expecting a State of Decay 3 when 2 came out 5 years ago, is the reason why we can't have original titles. Everything has to be a franchise or else it doesn't get made because no one is interested apparently. People just want samey experiences over and over again.

Rare is not the quality developer that any of us remember. Expecting greatness out of them is a mistake. Perfect Dark being MIA is predictable given how tepid the response was to Zero on 360 and how tonally different it was from the N64 game. Ultimately, PD is one of those games that hasn't fared well in the age of remake/reboot culture.

I just think xbox owners are nervous at the prospect of yet another generation lost to only a handful of decent 1st party exclusives. Starfield, if it does indeed come out this year, won't be an Xbox exclusive. Redfall, when it comes out in 2027, won't be an Xbox exclusive.

[onisama]

The outer world is from obsidian studio

[shinoff2183]

I think ms just has a management problem thats why there's always some type of issue with their studios, not all of them but damn it's pretty common

[Noskypeno]

They have like what 23 studios? Out of every one of them, why can't just 2 or 3 create a smaller scaled game, just an 8 -12 hr linear campaign, similar to Uncharted or Gears? It doesn't have to reinvent the wheel, just be a fun game. It shouldn't take 7 years to develop that kind of game. It seems like they want every game to be a large scaled game comparable to GTA.

[azzkikr8502]

Think the Issue with linear/short games is once it's done and dusted people move on. This does not work will for the game pass model as it needs people to continue their subs long after they finish the game. This is were gaas model works with a sub service as the game never ends until support dries up. This is another reason why Sony is going down this route. Main difference is Sony still pumping out amazing single player/linear games

[mkis007]

Gamepass need Gaas or lots of expansion content. otherwise it wont be viable long term. Ubisoft uses in game currency too much and that is an even bigger problem then gaas.

[RpgSama]

100%,

Whenever they talk about MS is usually bad news, even when we get announcements they come with an *.

The * is either no release timeframe, multiple delays down the line, troubles with development, cancellations or just games not living up to their announcements.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Nintendo and playstation don't have such problem as mismanagement or what we see it tbh.

[isarai]

I think it highlights more MSs inability to manage and nurture they're 1st party.

[SullysCigar]

Pretty much. Isn't this the game that lost it's director last year? That would likely have caused significant upheaval.

[Lightning77]

Actually the last we herd the game is doing much better development wise. Though I still wouldn't hold my breath to be shown off at E3.

[Limitedtimestruggle]

Turning the copium up to 11 on this one.

[lonewolf10]

Maybe the delay is to avoid how Halo Inifinite/Crapdown 3 released, for MSofts sake it had better be.

[jznrpg]

Those were both delayed too

[lonewolf10]

True, but they could of both done with even more time going by how they released.

[wiz7191]

Crackdown problem was non of the games were ever great to begin with so I never had faith in that series anyway , the first was pretty ok that’s about it. They definitely need this game and others to be good.

[Flawlessmic]

Seems to be the running theme for Ms and a large portion of there devs and games.

Hopefully they get there shit together all round as there are way to many troubling reports from multiple studios.

Redfall, forza and starfield will be fine though.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Didn't they just start development 2 year ago?

I decided to read the article. Obviously I should know better. Pure clickbait.

[BrainSyphoned]

2018 was the start.
Crystal Dynamics has been involved 2 years.

https://www.nintendolife.co...

[SullysCigar]

They lost their game director for Perfect Dark just last year. I think that should count as troubled development.

The article actually paints a positive picture of where we are now. Are you sure you read it?

[343_Guilty_Spark]

It should count as rumor and speculation which I thought was discouraged on N4G

[SullysCigar]

It's not a rumour though. First they had to bring in Crystal Dynamics for support, then they lost the game director about a year later. This article is an opinion piece as to how they've coped with development since.

[masterfox]

I totally forgotten that this game was announced some time time ago by MS, because of this article I just remembered about it lol, just imagine the incapacity of MS of handling projects, managing a few IPs of their own and now they have Bethesda games and now they want Activision games, that's not good all.

[buffig]

It's easy to announce some games with familiar names and a pre rendered trailer. Quality of said titles is very very far from assured.

[Godmars290]

Thought it showed MS's inability to get a team together.

[ChasterMies]

The problem isn’t that Microsoft’s first party exclusives are mediocre. If the games are profitable and some people like them, it’s a win for Microsoft. The problem is that Sony’s exclusives are some of the best games ever made. And then the TV shows about Sony’s exclusives games are also better than the TV shows about Microsoft’s exclusives. If Microsoft wants to win this console ware and take back market share it lost during the Xbox One era, it needs to double down down on quality.

[rippermcrip]

Nah, they just go 1000% on buying IP. Great for the industry.

[ZwVw]

The idea behind The Initiative looked good on paper but logically wasn't. A studio composed of lead designers and directors from various AAA gaming studios is bound to become a clashing of egos and ideas. No-one would be willing to compromise their vision.

Imagine if Sony announced that they were creating a new studio in Japan tasked with reviving one of their dormant ips (lets use Syphon Filter for example) and the team was being led by Hideo Kojima, Tomonobu Itagaki, Keiji Inafune and Shinji Mikami. Sounds awesome but that project ain't going far.

[Ninver]

Not every old school game can be reimagined in today's scene. Certain mechanics need to be revised and in doing so can take away from what made the game enjoyable originally.

I worry for a Metal Gear Solid remake if there is one cooking.

[jjb1981]

This is disappointing to hear. This is my most anticipated MS game.

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

MS just doesn’t know how to make a hit game anymore. They need people on their staff similar to Sony’s. I’m convinced that MS just don’t care about making great games. They have all the money to hire real talent and they either don’t utilize the talent they have or just don’t care to. Either way 2023 will be my last year as a primary Xbox gamer if they don’t get their shit together with AAA game releases THAT ARE GOOD!!!

[Chevalier]

Well chances are you'll still be primarily on Xbox if they release the couple games we know will be coming in Forza, Starfield and Redfall. Add in Stalker 2 and Warhammer Darktides and its already like 200% better than last year even if it's not much. Guess depends on what you consider good though. Lol.

Thats honestly 4 more games than what I would have wanted to play on Xbox last year. So 2023 is looking okayish

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

I hear ya but until those games are released I said what I said. I’m not a racing game fan so I couldn’t care less about Forza but I’m sure that it will release since it’s all MS really does release is Forza games. 2023 LOOKS good but I’m done playing the waiting game…

[Chevalier]

That's fair. I don't play racing games either so Forza I don't care too much about. Warhammer is the one I want to play the most, but, get the feeling it's just timed same with Stalker 2 so I might just wait and see. Redfall seems kind of interesting and Starfield I'm not sure what to think of just yet.

"I’m done playing the waiting game…"

I feel ya. Which is why I didn't bother getting the Series X this time round like last gen. Kind of got burnt getting my Xbox One S. I want to see a stream of games and about 10 exclusives before I get one. Hoping Avowed, Fable and Everwild are interesting. Got my Xbox One and just waited for more games I wanted then they just didn't really show up like I thought they would. Which is why this time round I held off.

[DarXyde]

Time will tell.

I can't say much negative about Perfect Dark because it isn't out yet and Microsoft has the sense to avoid releasing it or updating us until it is in a presentable state (but they did mess up by announcing it until it started coming together).

Nostalgia is tricky, and I think this is why we haven't seen a new F-Zero and why PlayStation hasn't been reviving some PS1 classics: modernizing is easier said than done. That, coupled with Microsoft's management tendencies and The Initiative's culture of "too many chefs in the kitchen" are difficult to overcome. I was always extremely skeptical of Microsoft's strategy with The Initiative, but they at least made corrective steps by bringing in Crystal Dynamics, so credit where it is due.

If history is any indication, it's not looking good, but withholding judgment until it's further along.

[AnotherGamer]

Can any MS studio don't have any development problems?

[DarXyde]

I don't think there have really been any issues coming out of Turn 10 or The Coalition. And if we're counting the acquisitions (we should), there haven't been any issues coming out of most Zenimax studios.

There is plenty of incompetence over at Microsoft, but you've definitely got a core group that know what they're doing. And if I extend the benefit of the doubt further, sometimes, games don't come together until the eleventh hour which is not unique to Microsoft.

I'm not particularly hopeful about their output, but I've been wrong before. It doesn't happen often... But it does happen.

[Thundercat77]

Xbox is good at spending windows money but very bad at managing their acquired studios.