The world of video games is full of titles that should have been longer in terms of their franchise amounts than we got. Sometimes they folded because there “wasn’t enough interest” in the games. Sometimes they folded because the developer went under. Or sometimes they stopped at a certain number because “no new ideas were had”. Either way you look at it though, it was a crime that they ended the way they did. As such, it’s always a good thing when one of these titles get their due and get a reboot/return. Such as with the Perfect Dark series by Rare. Or at least, that’s what many are hoping.
You see, the game was announced back in 2020, but even during its announcement things were a bit curious. Because the team behind this reboot/return was going to be a new group called The Initiative. Which is not odd in and of itself, but then the title was labeled as a “AAAA” game, which is obviously one letter more than the typical “AAA” title which is put upon the highest-quality of games. But then, things got odd when it was revealed that despite The Initiative being comprised of industry veterans, 50% of their staff was cut earlier this year, which is NOT a good thing when you’re trying to convince people that you’re going to “be the one to bring back this series!”
Then, to make matters even more confusing, it was revealed that Crystal Dynamics was going to be helping out with the game as well. Which was slightly odd because Crystal Dynamics has been going through their own “phase” this year as well in terms of the IP that they held.
However, the team at Microsoft made it clear that everything is actually ok with the teams behind the new Perfect Dark, and that we shouldn’t take these two squads helping one another as a “bad thing”. This came from Microsoft exec Matt Booty, who noted that just because the two are building to game together doesn’t mean the title is in trouble, it just means that one of the teams will really be able to push it along:
“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.”
To be fair, they have made big games in the past, including the very popular Tomb Raider reboot which everyone praised for the most part. So perhaps they’re going to help give the “Lara Croft Treatment” to Johanna Dark when her series is reborn.
Then again, we still haven’t gotten a true update on the game. So take all of this as you will.
Source: VGC
