The Initiative Adds Former Naughty Dog Melee Animation Lead

While much has been said and written about the amount of studios that Microsoft has acquired over the years, it can be easy to forget they actually created The Initiative. The studio has been hard at work on something these last few years and has been adding an impressive array of talent to their ranks over the last couple of years. Now another big name is apparently part of the team.

As spotted by Twitter user Klobrille, the LinkIn page for one Lee Davis has been updated to indicate he’s joined the company. If you’re not familiar with that name, you almost assuredly are with his work. He was the Former Head of Animation for Naughty Dog and worked on several of their acclaimed titles such as Uncharted 2, Uncharted 4 and both The Last of Us titles.

It’s not known as of now what the The Initiative is working on, though current rumors peg it as something relating to Rare’s Perfect Dark IP. Whatever it is, Microsoft is amassing quite the pool of talent for it.

Former Head of Melee Animation at Naughty Dog Lee Davis joins The Initiative as the Lead Gameplay Animator. He worked on The Last of Us I & II, Uncharted 4 & Uncharted 2.

As with previous hires, the studio seems to aim for a highly-skilled animation team. https://t.co/TWISUoeoo3 pic.twitter.com/wLkGbLudhk

— Klobrille (@klobrille) October 13, 2020