The Initiative is Microsoft’s newest studio, in that it was set up from scratch just last year, and though we don’t yet know what their first project is going to look like (or when we’re going to see it), we do know they’ve been busy staffing up as they get to work on that project.
They’ve hired from several major studios across the industry, such as the director of Sunset Overdrive, from Rockstar, and many, many others. And recently, they added yet another developer to their ranks. Erik Jakosen – who was Senior Staff Environment Artist on God of War at SIE Santa Monica (where he worked for five years – joined The Initiative in December as the Principle Environment Artist.
Incidentally, he isn’t the first former God of War developer to join the new Xbox studio. Earlier this year, the PS4 title’s senior staff level designer Chris O’Neill made the switch as well.
Again, there’s no telling yet what The Initiative is working on, but recently, the studio’s design director Drew Murray mentioned in a recruitment tweet that they’re working on “crazy ambitious game”. Take from that what you will.