Xbox Studio, The Initiative, Adds Former Naughty Dog Developer To The Team

Chris Wheatley

Microsoft and the Xbox brand have been hard at work by adding a slew of top tier veteran and new studios to the circle of first party developers. The latest move from newly formed studio, The Initiative, involves the hiring of a former member from quality AAA Sony studio, Naughty dog – Robert Ryan – who’s now part of the team.

Ryan isn’t only known for his work with Naughty Dog, as he was also apart of The Motive game studio. Most notably, however, is his six years of experience under the Naughty Dog name, where he most likely worked with both the Uncharted and Last of Us series. Ryan’s also the latest designer apart of a growing list of veteran developers to be added to the roster of The Initiative.

Former God of War lead producer, Brian Westergaard along with two members of the Tomb Raider reboot series developer, Crystal Dynamics – Daniel Neuburger and Lindsey McQueeney – as well as former Rockstar writer, Christian Cantamessa have also joined the team within the last year. The Initiative is forming a vast team of specialists and veterans in hopes of getting the Microsoft circle of exclusives on par with their competitors, Sony and Nintendo.

Things are definitely looking up for the future of the Xbox brand if this one team alone is anything to go by. We’ll just have to wait and see what’s in store for The Initiative and the rest of the Xbox studios; and hopefully that won’t be too long as E3 is now right around the corner.