Dinosaurs, Xbox Game Pass and Jeff Goldblum: A chat with Frontier Developments on all things Jurassic World Evolution

Recently, Frontier Developments brought its dinosaur park building simulation title Jurassic World Evolution to Xbox Game Pass. While players have undoubtedly been exploring the many islands these prehistoric lizards call home and building up mega tourist attractions along the way, we recently caught up with game producer Brendon Morgan, to talk about all things Jurassic World Evolution and how being part of Xbox Game Pass benefits the title.

Gamereactor: What led to your decision of offering Jurassic World Evolution on Xbox Game Pass, especially since it was recently an Epic Games Store free title?

Morgan: We are really excited to bring Jurassic World Evolution to Xbox Game Pass as this is something we've been working on with the team at Xbox for a while now. As a developer it's always a good day when you can bring your game to even more players, and hopefully lots of new players who haven't yet had the chance to release a pack of raptors into their own park, will now be able to!

Gamereactor: As Jurassic World Evolution features a plethora of expansions and DLCs today, what's in the Xbox Game Pass version?

Morgan: The version of the game that we are releasing on Xbox Game Pass is the base game including all of the free updates that we have added since launch. For those that want even more dinosaurs, more story missions and some incredible additions to our already amazing film cast line-up, all the DLC packs are also available from the Xbox Store. I'm really glad we've been able to keep working on the game since release to add all of this fantastic content and give players even more ways to play.

Gamereactor: How does being on Xbox Game Pass and delivering the title as an Epic Games Store free title benefit Jurassic World Evolution and Frontier Developments as a whole?

Morgan: As I mentioned previously, being able to bring Jurassic [World Evolution] to a wider audience is always a great thing for our team and we are really happy to be on both Epic Store for free and Xbox Game Pass. Allowing more people to jump into the Jurassic World Evolution experience is something I think everyone benefits from at the end of the day. I'm definitely looking forward to hearing from even more new players about their experiences with the raptors!

Gamereactor: Looking at the game in general, what was it like developing a title set in such an iconic franchise? Were there features or certain characters that you wanted to get into the game to help pay homage to the movie series?

Morgan: It was definitely a little daunting at first but Universal have been incredibly helpful throughout every step of the process and it's been great having them as partners in this development. We knew we wanted to involve as many of the cast from the films as possible and making sure that we were accurately recreating the film dinosaurs was also really important to us. Universal gave us the flexibility and resources we needed to make Jurassic World Evolution the game that we wanted it to be. It's definitely a relationship that we are very grateful for.

Gamereactor: Was it challenging creating a realistic simulation for creatures that have been extinct for millions of years?

Morgan: It was definitely challenging at times, but it was also a fantastic opportunity to bring to life the Jurassic universe in a whole new way! Thankfully we've had a lot of experts on hand both in the studio and externally. Our art team deserves a lot of credit here for spending countless hours researching every single dinosaur and also Frontier Developments own Chief Creative Officer Jonny Watts who holds a degree in zoology, that was incredibly helpful.

Gamereactor: What was it like working with Jeff Goldblum, and seeing him once again portray one of his most iconic roles?

Morgan: Jeff is an incredible chap and working with him in the recording studio is such an experience as he's a genuinely lovely person. He's the kind of guy that will take note of everyone's name and remember them. I have some great memories that will stick with me, of him talking about how much he loved my Irish accent.

It's also incredible to watch Jeff and all of the other members of the cast switch into their roles, it's like you are suddenly watching and listening to a totally different person. It's amazing how easy they seem to click right back into their original roles.

Gamereactor: If you could go back to the start of developing Jurassic World Evolution, would there be anything you'd add to the game that you haven't already?

Morgan: There's always so much that you want to add to games at the start, so many pieces, both large and small, but hard decisions do have to be made about what to include and unfortunately not everything makes the cut for various reasons. It's always a balance, but I think we made a lot of good decisions and I'm really happy with how the game turned out. Also the fact that we were able to then add in so much additional content into the base game for free after release, that really means a lot to me and I think to our community as well.

Gamereactor: Final question, Jurassic World Evolution has been out now for a few years, are there any plans in place to explore the future of the series, or are Frontier's sights set elsewhere for the time being?

Morgan: Our main focus at this time is making sure that Jurassic World Evolution on Xbox Game Pass is as much fun for everyone as possible. We're always looking at what's next, but we have nothing further to announce right now.

Thanks to Brendon Morgan and Frontier Developments for speaking with us. You can pick up Jurassic World Evolution today on PC, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Game Pass.