At this year E3 Xbox Briefing, Microsoft announced the acquisition of The Initiative, a new first-party game studio based in Santa Monica, California. The Initiative has been given the freedom to explore, try new things and operate like an independent studio, with the backing from one of the biggest companies in the world to do something bold and different.
Darrell Gallagher, Studio Head of The Initiative said:
“The industry is headed in an exciting direction, and we see an opportunity to create amazing new game experiences of the future. Our immediate focus is expanding our team to bring that vision to life, and we are incredibly excited for what the future holds for The Initiative.”
To accomplish the vision of the new studio, The Initiative has been given the green light to hire the some of the best talent in the industry with the likes of Brian Westergaard (Producer of the new God of War), Christian Cantamessa (Lead Writer and Designer for Red Dead Redemption), and Dan Neuburger (Co-Director of Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider.)
The latest addition is the former Technical Director of Rockstar Tom Shepherd who has vast experience after being involved with projects like Red Dead Redemption, Max Payne 3 and Grand Theft Auto V.
We can see that Tom Shepherd has clear ideas of what he is trying to accomplish after the message he posted on LinkedIn:
“The Initiative has several new Art, Engineer and Design openings posted – we’re looking for talented people to help build this brand new studio into something special! This is just the start. Over the next year we’re going to be building the team out further so watch out for more postings, or ping me directly.”
Read the full article at – WCCFTech.
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Shadow of the Erdtree will launch on June 21
This was originally a requirement when the game first launched.