We now have an update on two Xbox games that we happened to not see in the recent Xbox Games Showcase.
Those two games are State of Decay 3, from Undead Labs, and the new Perfect Dark, this time from The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics.
Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, was on the Giantbomb podcast when he addressed this question. Matt revealed that he has seen the builds for both games, and knows full well how far both projects have gone. As reported by Tech4Gamers, he had this to say:
“So as I look ahead to the next 18 months in terms of what we’re going to be able to show and deliver gameplay, I’m cautiously confident.”
This goes without saying, but as head of Xbox Game Studios, of course Matt would know exactly what is going on with both games. His personal assurance should be taken as confirmation that the development of both games are going well, and we have a lot to look forward to by the end of that 18 month period. That could be the end of 2024, the last week or so. That could be just in time for The Game Awards, or Microsoft could have their own event to reveal them. It is just as possible that Microsoft takes the time to share the progress all the way in 2025.
Undead Labs is still updating State of Decay 2 to this very day. Just last month, they had released a new Heart Attack update, that introduces a real change to how it plays. If you happen to be a fan of that franchise, Undead Labs does have your back.
I don’t have happy news like that for Perfect Dark fans, unfortunately. Rare Replay features an updated port of the 2010 Xbox 360 version of Perfect Dark, but there are no other upcoming Perfect Dark games for them to play.
In fact, it was somewhat surprising that Xbox announced a new Perfect Dark game was coming at all. We were told that this would be a reboot of the series, but we haven’t seen much of the game itself otherwise.
Unfortunately, we know that this project has seen its challenges, but this is why Microsoft got Crystal Dynamics to support The Initiative in producing this game.
Xbox fans are right to look for an update as these games were revealed in 2020, and we haven’t gotten updates since. At least Microsoft has earned good graces from fans after their recent Xbox Games Showcase, so that they are getting the benefit of the doubt on these projects now.
