Nintendo has confirmed that the developer of Perfect Dark, Steve Ellis, will be moving on to another project at Nintendo. It’s not clear yet what game he’ll be working on next, but we hope it will live up to the standards set by Perfect Dark Zero, which was released in 2005 and serves as a sequel to the original game released on N64. Who is the new director of Perfect Dark?
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What are your thoughts on this change?
Personally, I think it’s a little bit silly to switch out directors in between games. If Rare wasn’t happy with its previous choices, they could have taken more time between releases to find a better fit. It’s not like their original choice disappeared or anything. I mean, let’s be honest: Tim Stamper didn’t disappear when he left Rare; he went on to form a studio with his brother and put out some really well-received games.
What games has he worked on in the past?
He helped develop Call of Duty, which set a record for having more than $500 million in sales within 24 hours. More recently, he worked on Black Ops 3 and Infinite Warfare.
He comes from an indie studio, what do you think his expertise will be like?
Phil Fish, creator of Fez, has been appointed as a creative director for Perfect Dark. The reason he left Indie studio Polytron was so that he could work on Microsoft’s XBOX game that he loved so much growing up. In an interview with Polygon, Phil talked about his love for Perfect Dark and how it has inspired him to create awesome indie games like Fez and how Microsoft made him an offer which he couldn’t refuse.
What do you hope to see in this rebooted version of Perfect Dark that wasn’t present in previous versions?
I was actually relieved when I heard about Microsoft’s decision to reboot Perfect Dark. The original still has a very strong and dedicated fanbase, but it had begun to feel a little long in the tooth. The market for shooters had changed radically since 1999, and I think that most longtime fans would agree that it needed an update for modern audiences.
