A recent IGN interview with Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has highlighted a number of future developments coming from Microsoft and affiliated developers. One specific line calls out a new gaming studio, called The Initiative, with Spencer claiming that he is excited to show players what the studio is working on.
Established in 2018, The Initiative has been working fairly quietly with Microsoft backing them as they work on their first game, supposedly an Xbox exclusive title. Centered out of Santa Monica, and obtaining talent and leadership from the area, the team claims to be pushing towards creating innovations in game design and focusing on story driven content.
In the interview with IGN's Ryan McCaffrey, Spencer commented on how he was excited for everyone to see what the Microsoft backed game studio had to offer. Spencer himself has even confirmed he has played The Initiative's game already, so his experience with the studio's development has been rather hands on. However, this latest statement has many anticipating an official announcement from The Initiative soon.
Not much is known about what the game The Initiative is developing looks or plays like, or even what genre it's in, but that doesn't mean fans aren't excited about it all the same. The Xbox One's selection of exclusives was somewhat lacking, and even the Xbox Series X's expected launch library is short on exclusives. A major project from a brand new studio is likely to invigorate excitement for the Next-Gen console, as games have become more important than hardware to ship new consoles.
Source: IGN