The Head of Xbox Game Studios says it's now normal for multiple studios to work on the same AAA games.

Matt Booty has opened up on the rise in release delays for many major titles, and while he admitted the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact, he noted that the way the development itself is changing has also contributed.

As reported by VGC, he addressed the issue during a PAX West question and answer session and pointed to the need for studio partnerships, such as 'Perfect Dark' being developed by both The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics.

He said: "So, we just did this big partnership with Crystal Dynamics, and I read online, 'Oh' this must mean there’s a problem or something' - it's quite the opposite, right.

"You've got this veteran team at Crystal Dynamics, a big AAA team with over 100 people that becomes available.

"Of course we want to work with them, particularly if they’ve made a game like that before."

He noted further examples such as Relic Entertainment and World's Edge teaming up on 'Age of Empires 4', as well as French studio Asobo having a role to play in 'Flight Simulator'.

He explained: "That, though, also adds some complexity where if one of those studios has problems it then impacts the schedule.

"So the days are gone when you can sort of go 'everybody, round up the team in the cafeteria, I want to tell everybody to work harder this Wednesday.’

"That's long gone, it’s gotten a lot more complicated than that."