God of War Senior Environment Artist joins Microsoft's 'The Initiative' studio for their "AAAA" Xbox/PC game

Stuff we know so far:

• The Initiative is still expanding its team.
• The studio is working on a "AAAA" project.
• They just hired Sony Santa Monica senior environment artist. Other devs from SSM migrated too.
• We should learn more about the team and its game in 2020 (Probably E3)
  
  The Initiative seems like a powerful weapon in Microsoft's hands. They are doing something really ambitious and we should be really happy ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

What's a AAAA game?

@MonsieurX: A game, which has unheard ambitions and scope in fidelity and quality.

Oh, another alt.

Sony saves the day?

Guess he's in charge for the return of the Riftworm in Gears 6.

Star Citizen level, going for beyond the distance.

I would love to see console developers actually taking a step into projects like Star Citizen.

We have been limited to simple(from technical standpoint) games for too long.

Lets hope The Initiative will create massive, absolutely gorgeous worlds with dynamic environments.

Beyond getting released too, I guess

And so would I if I'm being honest about it. Unfortunately, that will never happened. Publishers have a time limit to give console developers and Publishers want to see results day by day, and it's also the reason why MS kick Chris Robert during Freelancer development, he took too damn long and MS was pissed. In order to do a Star Citizen like for consoles only, you need to start your own studios without a Publisher but who wants to take that huge of a risk in today's standards?

@MonsieurX: Yeah, that too lol.

Lol, oh brother

Leaving Sony saves the day.

Nice. Really hyped to see what this developer has in the works.

A game that tells you you're going to get a 10-million dollar mansion when you're really going to get a 10-million dollar tent.

"AAAA" is so silly, I love it.

Heh, let's wait for Star Citizen to turn it's hundreds of millions of dollars into a complete, finished game before we start using it as a model to aim for ;)

Sounds promising... very intrigued to see what the Initiative is working on next year.

one guy isn't gonna make or break sony

one guy is useless

Whenever you post you prove this to be true.

You mean staying in development indefinitely?

Well that pretty much ruins SW for next gen. MS confirmed to have the best looking background rocks. It's over folks.

Microsoft shot themselves in the foot by announcing a “AAAA” game. It will never deliver.

This game has to have an insane budget on par with GTAV if it has any chance of delivering....which it won’t beCause Microsoft has a history of failing when it comes to games.

I have no idea how Microsoft has a trillion dollars yet they can’t make any good games. How are they not able to hire the best talent in the industry?

Why are they pumping out trash like Recore and whatever trash RARE has made the last decade?

I mean, they keep hyping up Gears and Halo and those franchises are just stale now.

What is this AAAA game? It better have a 1000 people working on it.

I look forward to seeing what they are working on. There are a lot of talented people at the studio. Now let's see how well they work together and if they can deliver something great.

Its going to be a RTS.

hahahha

HAHHAHA

/cry;

@ajstyles: Thats what Microsoft literally did an year ago:

1. Created The Initiative - new talents around the world(many from Sony Santa Monica)
2. Acquired Ninja Theory whom showed most impressive in-engine trailer industry has ever seen.

Be patient

No, just no. As a console gamer i want games announced in a gen, released in THAT gen, and besides that SC is a scam.

Nobody should follow what Chris Roberts is doing, in fact it should be shown as what NOT to do when making a video game.

@i_p_daily: Just like Last Guardian and Beyond Good and Evil 2, right lmao?

We brought SC to the table just for example. We need complex worlds like SC. Of course its not a scam and its superior in whole industry, visioning new standarts in gaming, but thats completely another topic.

Can't wait for the game, hopefully my PC can run it at least on high settings.

Yeah you're other 2 examples are worthless also, nobody wants to wait a decade or more for a game.

As for SC being superior in the whole industry, well it hasn't released and probably never will, so for something to be superior it needs to be released in full so we can all judge such a claim. I look forward to hearing back from you on SC in 2030 if it releases by then lol.

@i_p_daily: "nobody wants to wait a decade or more for a game" And yet, SC community flourishes and expands more than ever, CIG earned more money in 2019 than ever in a single year, company has fucking golden age lmao.

But that's your preference. Noone makes you play it. Stay away from it. And let us enjoy it in peace.

Earning more money in 2019 just goes to show how stupid the hermroid race is. You don't even know when you're been taking for a ride. I hope you're "enjoying" paying for Chris and his wife's new 4.7 million dollar home.

Anyway hopefully MS gets these guys to work and they have this game into the publics hand in a few years.

@i_p_daily: That argument about house is actually quite amusing. Try harder.

Even if he bought a mansion with Dev money, in 2018 CIG got additional 46 million investment from a Billionaire - Clive Calder, so you cant possibly say that that 4.6 mil of PEOPLE's money went into buying a mansion. Additional, bonus 41.4 mil still left for development on top of crowdfunding money.

But, why are we even talking about this when CIG is ought to deliver annual report of earnings and expenses to Companies House - United Kingdom's government's official registrar of companies.

Are you, random person from the internet assuring me that they are stealing money in front of UK gov and all financial officers?

P.S. Havent you considered that Chris was rich from the beginning of Wing Commander series and maybe he afforded the house by his salary as CEO and her wife's salary combined by saving that money throughout decades?

U just cant assure me that your word is more trustworthy than Companies House's reports of where money went.

....

They said that themselves?

@utherellus: Phil Spencer promised tons of amazing games in 2013 at E3. Still waiting for them. I don’t know how much more patient you want me to be?

They bragged about all the studios they bought and we got Recore and Crackdown 3 while they cancelled half a dozen games.

@ajstyles: Studios who made Recore and Crackdown are weak. Ninja theory and Initiative looks like new, refreshed, strong firepower for MS.

1) You know who else has impressive talents from Sony Santa Monica? Sony Santa Monica.

2) I remember Crackdown 3 showed an impressive "in-engine" trailer too... it's Microsoft, be patient

@utherellus: Like I said get back to me in 2030 if the game has released by then.

I will say this, I hope the game does get a full release, because if it doesn't, well i'm gonna be in the front row laughing my arse off at all of you.

Now go buy some tickets to citizenCON as Chris needs a bright red Ferrari to park in the driveway of his new mansion :)

@utherellus: Star Citizen is a scam. It conned insecure PC gamers for 8 years and counting. Have fun with your beta next year.😂

To think an entire console generation started and ended but no release date. They give their supporters a beta instead.🤣

Great I can't wait to see a dad of war rip off on Xbox that lemmings will claim is better than the PS version of the dad of war.

@MonsieurX:

You know a tripple A game with another A to make it look even better.

@i_p_daily: CitizenCon 2019 came and went this past November. Sadly, I didn't follow it due to crunch time and well, playing too many games lol.

@BenjaminBanklin: And? What Sony Santa Monica has to do with The Initiative's powerful team? Or it was an attempt to somehow put a shadow on Xbox Studios?

lmao I hope that you actually having fun playing games rather than swinging dick online on forums 24/24. This feller thinks that injecting cringy sarcasm into conversations will somehow affect greatness of the project :D :D

A beta that is superior to every game in the whole industry with quality, complexity, immersiveness and community satisfaction 🤣


I just love how haters cant stand neither immense success and progress of Star Citizen, neither Microsoft, getting up on its feet again with solid studios. Just shut the **** up at last and enjoy the show.

@Pedro: mmmmm more cringe with GIFs. Use your balls if you have one, take responsibility of your each word and prove your kindergarten speech with facts or get lost playing repetitive conveyor games, re-released in every 3 years lmao.

That's completely true. Time limits really do put a damper on games and game devs. The reason some games can be so ambitious is because they've been kickstarted and gamers are willing to put in the money and patience for something unique.

Yep because the best games on the market at the ones that take a decade to make right?

Can you try to insert anymore hyperbole into my post? Stop twisting my words. :P

RDR 2 - 7 years - 1000+ employees - 200+ mil.................... close enough.

Nope, its short of 3 years and had a clear release date. Unlike the un-release 9 year old beta. :)

:)