Matt Booty discussed the highly anticipated reboots of Fable and Perfect Darkbut he also dwelt on the difficulties around the development ofHalo Infinite.
A very promising Fable reboot
A new Fable game, developed by Playground Gamesto whom we owe Forza Horizon, looks promising according to Matt Booty, CEO of Xbox Game Studios. If the combination of the two (Fable and Forza?) is quite strange, Playground Games would have brought key elements to the project, such as “true craftsmanship, high quality, great attention to detail”.
“They have a particular passion for intellectual property, and they’ve also demonstrated that they understand what the heart and soul of Fable is, and how they can bring it to the fore for today’s sensibilities.” , Booty said.
“Some of the things I’ve seen are very encouraging. They have a great technical knowledge base and they’ve shown such an investment in the quality of their work. During some of the early reviews, I shared a bit of skepticism, but they’ve since assuaged my doubts and I can’t wait for everyone to see it when we’re ready to show it.”
Halo Infinite “not up to par”
While the Xbox Games Studio CEO was full of praise for the Fable reboot, he expressed his disappointment with Halo Infinite. In fact, the developer 343 Industries struggled to achieve several goals, such as delays for the Forge mode and especially the complete cancellation of the cooperative world in split screen.
Booty explained the challenges of working remotely which had to come together very quickly, as well as the development team adapting during the pandemic, which he called “the worst of conditions to try to make games”. He still praised the team for successfully releasing the game, while acknowledging that Xbox “has fallen short” when it comes to Halo Infinite’s long-term content.
“[…] the classic mistake of a runner tripping over the finish line,” he said.