The Initiative’s Perfect Dark

cmstophe said:
Perfect Dark is probably in my top 10 faves all time. Never played Zero but it looked mediocre. Definitely excited to see what this looks like.
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I was a big fan of the original N64 game, and Zero was the only game I had at launch for the 360 but it was not very good imo. I am hopeful this game turns out well and ends up being something worth playing, but I really would've preferred they used the creation of a new studio as an opportunity to create new IP along with it rather than doing what they did with the Coalition (formerly Black Tusk Studios) and shackling them with an existing IP, especially another FPS...

Based on a lot of the talent they hired in the early days it seemed like they might've been making a 3rd person action game since that was what a lot of the folks starting there had worked on. That got me excited as I feel that's a genre Xbox is quite lacking in, then they revealed it was Perfect Dark and that it'd remain a FPS and that excitement was significantly reduced.
 
HorTyS said:
I was a big fan of the original N64 game, and Zero was the only game I had at launch for the 360 but it was not very good imo. I am hopeful this game turns out well and ends up being something worth playing, but I really would've preferred they used the creation of a new studio as an opportunity to create new IP along with it rather than doing what they did with the Coalition (formerly Black Tusk Studios) and shackling them with an existing IP, especially another FPS...

Based on a lot of the talent they hired in the early days it seemed like they might've been making a 3rd person action game since that was what a lot of the folks starting there had worked on. That got me excited as I feel that's a genre Xbox is quite lacking in, then they revealed it was Perfect Dark and that it'd remain a FPS and that excitement was significantly reduced.
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I hear you however this is apples and oranges. Coalition had to deal with a base that didn't want change to the core game mechanics and had hired a lot of people before Microsoft bought Gears off of Epic. Microsoft was looking for studios to bring back Perfect Dark and Fable. It appeared Darrell Gallagher was using the PD license from the inception of the studio. When Phil talked about them in 2018, he hinted they would revisit old IP, and rumors of a new studio heading the Perfect Dark re-boot circled early in the year before they began their initial hiring spree. Originally Playground was pitching an original IP to everyone before accepting to turn their concept into Fable before Microsoft bought them. For Perfect Dark, Microsoft picked the guy who headed the re-imagined Tomb Raider. These were two cases of IPs looking for studios. They're now doing the same thing with Killer Instinct.
 
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Zero sucked ass. At first I was disappointed with The Initiative doing this as their first game but I'll hold judgement until I see more. It could be amazing.
 
Zcythe said:
Possible hint at a CD acquisition?
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i-was-totally-gonna-say-that-thats-what-i-was-thinking.gif


but they already have a good relationship with them and many TI devs were once from CD
 
Curious as to why they needed an outside studio to come in and help with this game? CD doesn't make first person games as far as I know, also which part of CD is this? Montreal? Northwest? Southwest? there are several different parts of CD it's not all one studio. Also they are still "early in development"? when was this project approved? The initiative was founded 3 years ago, if they are truly still early I wouldn't guess you'll be able to play it until late 2023 at the earliest.
 
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JinCA said:
Curious as to why they needed an outside studio to come in and help with this game? CD doesn't make first person games as far as I know, also which part of CD is this? Montreal? Northwest? Southwest? there are several different parts of CD it's not all one studio. Also they are still "early in development"? when was this project approved? The initiative was founded 3 years ago, if they are truly still early I wouldn't guess you'll be able to play it until late 2023 at the earliest.
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The team was very small the last time I checked, I’m sure I read somewhere that they’d be using a lot of outside devs.
 
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JinCA said:
Curious as to why they needed an outside studio to come in and help with this game? CD doesn't make first person games as far as I know, also which part of CD is this? Montreal? Northwest? Southwest? there are several different parts of CD it's not all one studio. Also they are still "early in development"? when was this project approved? The initiative was founded 3 years ago, if they are truly still early I wouldn't guess you'll be able to play it until late 2023 at the earliest.
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If they're in early development then yea it'll be a while away, my guess is they got them in to help with cinematics and little details and probably to help make a more immersive single player story.
 
Two Pennys Worth said:
The team was very small the last time I checked, I’m sure I read somewhere that they’d be using a lot of outside devs.
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The wikipedia says the initiative was started to make AA games, sometimes I get them and the coalition mixed up. I was thinking about how people were talking up toe coalition so much when they first started, this studio hasn't released anything yet.
 
Two Pennys Worth said:
The team was very small the last time I checked, I’m sure I read somewhere that they’d be using a lot of outside devs.
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I think there’s some interview, forget with who exactly, but they said their whole intent was to go Hollywood, keep small and contract out those who can produce quality stuff.

the team is made up of mostly leads, so I guess they’ll be the primary source of direction
 
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karmakid said:
I think there’s some interview, forget with who exactly, but they said their whole intent was to go Hollywood, keep small and contract out those who can produce quality stuff.

the team is made up of mostly leads, so I guess they’ll be the primary source of direction
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This one?

www.windowscentral.com

Xbox Game Studios 'The Initiative' talks 'staying small, staying agile'

Microsoft is setting expectations for its The Initiative studio, "staying small and staying agile" for its early days.
www.windowscentral.com www.windowscentral.com
 
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JinCA said:
The wikipedia says the initiative was started to make AA games, sometimes I get them and the coalition mixed up. I was thinking about how people were talking up toe coalition so much when they first started, this studio hasn't released anything yet.
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Although it was on a job listing where they described themselves as a AAAA studio, it was picked up and ran with by the press. It certainly won’t help when it comes to setting expectations. To be fair to them though, they came out very early and said they’d be outsourcing a lot of the work.

www.windowscentral.com

Xbox Game Studios 'The Initiative' talks 'staying small, staying agile'

Microsoft is setting expectations for its The Initiative studio, "staying small and staying agile" for its early days.
www.windowscentral.com www.windowscentral.com
 
Yeah MS never once said they would be AA. They did say AAAA though.
 
JinCA said:
Curious as to why they needed an outside studio to come in and help with this game? CD doesn't make first person games as far as I know, also which part of CD is this? Montreal? Northwest? Southwest? there are several different parts of CD it's not all one studio. Also they are still "early in development"? when was this project approved? The initiative was founded 3 years ago, if they are truly still early I wouldn't guess you'll be able to play it until late 2023 at the earliest.
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They probably needed help for the same reason Sony Santa Monica need the help.
gamerant.com

God of War: Ragnarok Getting Help from Valkyrie Entertainment

Valkyrie Entertainment, a video game developer aiding in the creation of several different triple A titles, is working on God of War Ragnarok.
gamerant.com gamerant.com
 
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Two Pennys Worth said:
Although it was on a job listing where they described themselves as a AAAA studio, it was picked up and ran with by the press. It certainly won’t help when it comes to setting expectations. To be fair to them though, they came out very early and said they’d be outsourcing a lot of the work.

www.windowscentral.com

Xbox Game Studios 'The Initiative' talks 'staying small, staying agile'

Microsoft is setting expectations for its The Initiative studio, "staying small and staying agile" for its early days.
www.windowscentral.com www.windowscentral.com
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Yeah when MS bought all of those other mid level and smaller studios in 2019 people were talking about the Initiative as if they were the AAA studio in the group on some forums too, seems to have been some confusion around that studio.
 
Two Pennys Worth said:
Not really, both just using more devs to get game finished.
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Not really, co developing likely means doing work on the story and gameplay basically being involved in everything, that's way more involved than just having someone create assets. That's like saying a painter contributes to the building of a house as much as an architect and a construction crew.
 
Two Pennys Worth said:
Not really, both just using more devs to get game finished.
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JinCa has to support Sony though….

“As of this article, the full extent of Valkyrie's contributions to God of War: Ragnarok is unknown.”

And MS hasn’t announced the full extent CD is contributing.

But let fanboys fan.
 
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JinCA said:
Yeah when MS bought all of those other mid level and smaller studios in 2019 people were talking about the Initiative as if they were the AAA studio in the group on some forums too, seems to have been some confusion around that studio.
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From a talent point of view they are AAA, but they haven’t expanded past 70 people I don’t think.

I hope it’s the Tomb Raider team working on this game. I don’t see Microsoft asking for the Avengers team and plus they have a year two road map to work on.

They did have that Sega studio make Halo Wars. I have heard the idea floating around that maybe Microsoft is trying to get the western division of Square, but I doubt it.
 
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cmstophe said:
Perfect Dark is probably in my top 10 faves all time. Never played Zero but it looked mediocre. Definitely excited to see what this looks like.
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Zero was very mediocre. The controls were pretty bad, weighty and unresponsive. On top of the gameplay not being very good.
 
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I think it's great, the Initiative is obviously very small and got in a team of talented devs to co develop with, not just outsourcing.

There was never AAAA, it was a typo on LinkedIn and the media picked it up and ran with it.
 
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