Microsoft’s new first-party studio, The Initiative, just added some brand new talent with the addition of Senior Staff Level Designer, Chris O’Neill. His last work was on the critically acclaimed God of War.
The Initiative is a new game studio that was formally announced by Microsoft at their E3 2018 press conference. It is hiring top industry talent with many of the former Naughty Dog, Rockstar Games, Sony Santa Monica Studio and Crystal Dynamics developers joining the studio. The future of this game studio sounds incredibly promising and with every new game developer joining the studio, it is going to get even better.
God of War has won numerous game of the year awards for Sony Santa Monica Studio
The most recent addition to The Initiative is a big one since this developer just worked as a Senior Staff Level Designer on God of War,Chris O’Neill. He joined The Initiative in January 2019 and has been worked there for around one month now. It should be exciting to see what he can work on next at The Initiative.
Darrell Gallagher is the Studio Head of The Initiative and at E3 2018, he cited the creation of the studio for offering “storytelling, world-building and creative exploration.”
“The foundation we have in place for The Initiative is unique in many ways. We’ve been given the freedom to explore, try new things and operate like an independent studio, with the backing from one of the biggest companies in the world to do something bold and different. The industry is headed in an exciting direction, and we see an opportunity to create amazing new game experiences of the future, ” said Gallagher.
“Our immediate focus is expanding our team to bring that vision to life, and we are incredibly excited for what the future holds for The Initiative.”
Microsoft has made several studio acquisitions in the last couple of months from Ninja Theory, Playground Games to Obsidian Entertainment. The Initiative is their own first-party studio joining the likes of The Coalition and 343 Industries.
Source (Linkedin)
