In 2018, we got the first word of the newest studio formed under the Xbox Games Studios, The Initiative. Located in Santa Monica, the development house is made up of veterans from across the industry. We’ve been hearing about something crazy and ambitious from them ever since the studio was formed, and it seems there may be some old school stuff mixed in with whatever that is.
On his official Twitter, Xbox head Phil Spencer said he recent visited the studio and got an update on what they’re working on, which sounds quite interesting, if we’re going by the words used by Spencer. He said that they are working on some “old things” as well as new, implying some sort of emphasis on the latter. It’s a bit of an odd word choice, and one that’s led to much speculation that they could be working on a legacy Xbox IP of some kind.
It’s hard to say what IP that could be, since Microsoft’s main legacy franchises such as Gears of War and Halo already have dedicated companies working exclusively on said series. There’s Fable, but rumours have long suggested that Playground Games are already working on that. It could also be that this is simply a case of reading too much between the lines. We’ll just have to wait and see until whenever the project is finally revealed.