Xbox's elusive studio The Initiative is becoming something of a dream team. With developers from a variety of interesting backgrounds— and with some impressive titles under their belts— on the roster, the studio seems to be bringing quite a bit of expertise to whatever project its working on. That team just added another new member, with yet another impressive resume, too.
Sylvia Chambers, who previously worked on games like Uncharted 4, has joined The Initiative as an animator. The studio, based out of Santa Monica, has been picking up talented developers left and right recently, with God of War developer Erik Jakobsen recently joining the team. With so much talent now on the project, it will be incredibly exciting to see what The Initiative is actually working on.
That's remained a mystery thus far though, and while some details about The Initiative's game have leaked, it's been largely shrouded in mystery. Microsoft's initial announcement of the studio was met with quite a bit of praise, and the addition of extra talent being added to the team has set a high bar for whatever the studio does inevitably release.
Xbox is planning digital events for the Xbox Series X in lieu of E3, and an official announcement of what The Initiative has been working on these past few years seems destined to happen at one of those. Microsoft faced plenty of criticism for a lack of Xbox exclusives this generation, but it truly seems primed to shake that criticism with the Xbox Series X and its software lineup.
What makes Xbox so interesting, at least when it comes to exclusives, hinges on those titles not being entirely exclusive. Xbox is slowly becoming a platform more than it is a just a console, which is ultimately a great thing for gamers. It allows games to appear on Xbox Series X, but also PC and Xbox One for a few years to come.
More information about The Initiative's game should be arriving in the near future. Considering how much talent is behind it, it may emerge as a key indicator of what Xbox plans for next-gen. With someone that has Uncharted 4 animation experience under their belt now on the team, animations should look buttery smooth, too.
The Initiative has not announced its new game.
Source: LinkedIn