Xbox Series X secretive game studio hires Uncharted 4 developer

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This might give us a hint as to what The Initiative is working on

Xbox Series X game studio hires Uncharted 4 developer
(Image credit: The Initiative)

Xbox Series X game studio The Initiative has brought some pretty big names into its fold to develop a super-secretive game that's likely to launch on the next-gen console. 

The Initiative's latest hire is Sylvia Chambers, a character animator who worked at Naughty Dog on Uncharted 4 and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, and at DICE on Battlefield V. According to Chamber's LinkedIn page, she started working at The Initiative on a contract basis in April 2020.

What this means for The Initiative

Chambers has not only worked in the gaming industry, but she was also a shot creator for Marvel's Thor: Ragnarok at The Third Floor, a pre-visualization studio. If that doesn't excite you, check out Chambers’ demo reel above.

Judging by Chambers' work, we can guess The Initiative is working on an action-adventure game played either from a first-person or third-person perspective. We're personally holding out hope for a third-person game, but at least The Initiative doesn't appear to be working on something as underwhelming as a card game.

Given the amount of talent on the team, this new game could bolster the Xbox Series X's exclusive list to match the PS5's. Including Chambers, there's Christian Cantamessa (Red Dead Redemption writer), Brian Westergaard (God of War lead producer), Dan Neuburger (previously at Crystal Dynamics for 12 years), Blake Fischer (in publishing at Microsoft for 16 years) and Lindsey McQueeney (in recruiting at Google, Crystal Dynamics and 38 Studios).

Top that off with Drew Murray (Sunset Overdrive director), the design director at The Initiative, and Darrell Gallagher (previously Crystal Dynamics, Activision and Square Enix), the head of studio at The Initiative.

We still haven't heard an official announcement about what The Initiative is working on, but we know the game is already playable. Head of Xbox Phil Spencer got to playtest the game back in February 2020.

Spencer recently teased that we will be seeing Xbox Series X games sometime soon, so we imagine The Initiative's game will be in that lineup.

Rami Tabari
Rami Tabari
Editor

Rami Tabari is an Editor for Laptop Mag. He reviews every shape and form of a laptop as well as all sorts of cool tech. You can find him sitting at his desk surrounded by a hoarder's dream of laptops, and when he navigates his way out to civilization, you can catch him watching really bad anime or playing some kind of painfully difficult game. He’s the best at every game and he just doesn’t lose. That’s why you’ll occasionally catch his byline attached to the latest Souls-like challenge.