In fact, Jones was only ever a consultant on the project. The chief developer of the wonderful first Crackdown game, which was built by the now defunct Realtime Worlds, told Eurogamer: "I wasn't doing the development."
"I really felt I was there more importantly at the start to get the thing off the ground," Jones told Eurogamer. "If we were going to do a Crackdown 3, what would be some of the strong features for it? I was really there in an advisory role more than anything else."
Sumo Digital, the UK developer behind Snake Pass and the upcoming Team Sonic Racing, is the main developer behind the new Crackdown. In fact it has been throughout the project. But work for hire studios are often left off publisher press releases and official websites, their contributions to big games either going unnoticed or unannounced - to the frustration of many of the bosses of these studios.
"Sumo was really doing the development," Jones said. "That's fine. Once it was fully underway and under development, my role diminished anyway."
Sumo Digital isn't the only studio that's worked on Crackdown 3. Microsoft Studios has contracted a number of UK work for hire studios to contribute, including Ruffian and Red Kite Games. Ruffian's involvement is not without a sense of irony. Development of the embattled Crackdown 2 went to Ruffian, which, like Realtime Worlds, is a Scottish studio. Ruffian and Jones' companies have enjoyed a "friendly rivalry", as one source put it to Eurogamer, so when the former was parachuted in to help turn Crackdown 3 around, there were more than a few wry smiles up in Scotland.