Marvel's Wolverine has lost its original creative director Brian Horton to Xbox's upcoming Perfect Dark title, a Game File report has revealed. As confirmed by both Sony and Microsoft representatives, Horton made the switch in the summer and Marcus Smith has taken his place, who has served in directorial roles at Insomniac Games on Marvel's Spider-Man entries and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.
As for why Horton moved on from Insomniac Games, two sources speaking to the outlet claimed it was due to "creative decisions around the game". Sony declined to comment on this claim, however, only confirming Smith's new position. In addition, Mike Daly is the new game director for Marvel's Wolverine.
Speaking to Game File, an Xbox rep said Brian Horton will hold the same creative director role on Perfect Dark, allowing him to bring "his wealth of experience to the upcoming reboot of the classic secret agent series". First revealed almost four years ago, Perfect Dark reappeared with a gameplay presentation earlier this year.
Marvel's Wolverine, meanwhile, was announced roughly nine months later in the PlayStation Showcase of 2021 and hasn't been seen since — except in leaked gameplay via a hack of internal Insomniac Games documents. The developer has said it'll share more "when the time is right".
[source gamefile.news]
Comments 28
Marcus Smith is an Insomniac veteran so I'm confident the project is in very safe hands.
All the best to him. I hope he can bring Perfect Dark back to it's original glory and then some. I was unimpressed by the trailer shown earlier this year. Marcus has already worked on Spiderman so I'm expecting better things for Wolverine which I was currently on the fence for in terms of interest.
That's a great get for Perfect Dark. The game looks promising and Horton is a talented guy. It's a good fit too since he used to work at Crystal Dynamics, so he understands how Darrell Gallagher operates.
As for Wolverine, I wonder how far along it is now, and I'm curious if Horton's departure will impact it significantly. I also don't know what to make of this change in "creative decisions". That's so vague it could mean a lot of things. I just hope they don't screw with the tone to make it less mature and gory.
I hope people don't overreact to this. Creative Differences happen. I hope Brian Does well over their with the Perfect Dark team(He's been super chill everytime I've seen him in a interview), and I have full belief that Marcus Smith can make a great game as he did with Miles and Rift Apart.
Mike Daly should do a good job too. I think everyone is excited for this game so Insomniac should take their time.
Removed - trolling/baiting
I’m getting Metroid Prime 4 Deja vu.
For those unfamiliar, that’s not good.
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2024/01/random-its-been-5-years-since-metroid-prime-4-was-rebooted
Ohhh man. That dude is incredible. All the best to him! That definitely peeks my interest in Perfect Dark.
It's seems rather late in the day to be joining Perfect Dark? Does that mean its being rebooted again?
Be nice if PefectDark turns out to be good and gets an eventual PlayStation release too😁
Off topic anyone know if the Horizon Zero Dawn PS5 upgrade is now available in UK
Wonder if it had something to do with the leaks. Maybe the director wanted to change the story since it got leak and Sony said no, since they already spent so much on development.
Two of my most anticipated upcoming titles. I reeeeally hope MSFT launches PD on PS5. PD is my favorite (and most played) N64 title of all time. I HATED the Xbox 360 sequel. So I'm really hoping this new one can nail what it's going for.
This is great news, one talent leaves but another takes their place and made some games I loved.
Hmmm by the sounds of this, Wolverine could be a very long way off which isn't a great sign.
@Beerheadgamer82 I believe my preload unlocked at midnight
Perfect Dark was one of my favourite games on the N64! I would love for this to be a "one last thing" at a Xbox show case, saying it's coming to PS
No wonder insomniac hasn't given an update about that game at all.....😬
@Rob3008 let them cook. Perfect dark might end up being a way off as well. I don’t care if Wolverine releases in 2026 or 2027, as long as it’s as good as it can be.
The game will be fine, if Smith is the one with directorial roles for the first Spidey and Rift Apart, Wolverine will turn out alright.
Wolverine was scheduled for 2026 according to the leaked documents, they considered moving the SM2 guys onto it to push it out in 2025 but went with Venom: Lethal Protector for 2025 instead, so the team working on Wolverine is still relatively small.
@Beerheadgamer82 It is and it's fantastic they did an incredible job I've just finished the proving and so far everything has been top notch. The new dialogue animations are great a vast improvement to the original they add a lot more character to the interactions ^__^
@Keyblade-Dan about to get on it soon been busy with the chores and things today. I know yh I've only heard positive things about it this past week and from DF
Honestly excited for both games. I do hope Wolverine is a more contained experience though.
Creative decisions “ching ching”
Traitor
Don't care for superhero c... though, so.
@TheFakulty Scuttlebutt suggests that the game is out in 2026. So not early, but not late?
It's so he can help design the game around the Dualsense for the upcoming PS5 port.
@Boxmonkey haha is amazing how much more creative you can be for more money!
Perfect Dark > Wolverine, honestly for me by a wide margin. Insomniac used to be one of my favorite studios, but, man, them turning into basically a Marvel studio (according to the leaked documents) is a true bummer.
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