 | |
| Company type | Division |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | June 2018 |
| Founder | Darrell Gallagher |
| Headquarters | , US |
Key people |
|
| Products | Perfect Dark |
Number of employees | 56 [1] (2022) |
| Parent | Xbox Game Studios |
| Website | theinitiative.com |
The Initiative is an American video game development studio under Xbox Game Studios based in Santa Monica, California, formed in 2018. The studio is currently working on a new installment in the Perfect Dark series.
At E3 2018, Xbox Game Studios head Phil Spencer announced the formation of The Initiative, a new internal video game development company led by Darrell Gallagher, who had previously served as studio head of Crystal Dynamics. [2] It is Microsoft's first game development studio in Santa Monica. [3] At its formation, it aimed to create and produce big-budget titles. In addition to Gallagher, the studio recruited several industry veterans, including Christian Cantamessa (writer of Red Dead Redemption ) and Brian Westergaard (senior producer of 2018's God of War ), as well as talents from BioWare, Naughty Dog, Respawn Entertainment, Santa Monica Studio, Blizzard Entertainment, Insomniac Games and Rockstar Games. [4] [5] [6] [7]
At The Game Awards 2020, it was revealed that the studio is working on a Perfect Dark reboot. [8]
Rare Limited is a British video game developer and a studio of Xbox Game Studios based in Twycross, Leicestershire. Rare's games span the platform, first-person shooter, action-adventure, fighting, and racing genres. Its most popular games include the Battletoads, Donkey Kong, and Banjo-Kazooie series, as well as games like GoldenEye 007 (1997), Perfect Dark (2000), Conker's Bad Fur Day (2001), Viva Piñata (2006), and Sea of Thieves (2018).
Xbox Game Studios is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, for the development and publishing of video games for Microsoft Windows. It has since expanded to include games and other interactive entertainment for the namesake Xbox platforms, other desktop operating systems, Windows Mobile and other mobile platforms, web-based portals, and other game consoles.
Remedy Entertainment Oyj, trading internationally as Remedy Entertainment Plc, is a Finnish video game developer based in Espoo. Notable games the studio has developed include the first two entries in the Max Payne franchise, Alan Wake, Quantum Break and Control. Sam Lake, Remedy's creative director, has represented the company on numerous occasions.
Rockstar San Diego, Inc. is an American video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Carlsbad, California. The studio is best known for developing the Midnight Club and Red Dead series.
Crystal Dynamics, Inc. is an American video game developer based in San Mateo, California. The studio is best known for its games in the Tomb Raider, Legacy of Kain, and Gex series.
Bully is a 2006 action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar Vancouver and published by Rockstar Games. It was released on 17 October 2006 for the PlayStation 2. A remastered version of the game, subtitled Scholarship Edition, was developed by Mad Doc Software and released on 4 March 2008 for Xbox 360 and Wii, and on 21 October 2008 for Windows. Bully was re-released for PlayStation 4 available via PlayStation Network on 22 March 2016. An updated version of the Scholarship Edition, titled Anniversary Edition, was developed by War Drum Studios and released for Android and iOS on 8 December 2016.
The Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE) is a proprietary game engine of Rockstar Games, developed by the RAGE Technology Group division of Rockstar San Diego. Since its first game, Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis in 2006, released for the Xbox 360 and Wii, the engine has been used by Rockstar Games's internal studios to develop advanced open world games for consoles and computers.
Trevor Philips is a character and one of the three playable protagonists, alongside Michael de Santa and Franklin Clinton, of Grand Theft Auto V, the seventh main title in the Grand Theft Auto series developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. He also appears in the game's multiplayer component, Grand Theft Auto Online. A career criminal and former bank robber, Trevor leads his own organisation, Trevor Philips Enterprises, and comes into conflict with various rival gangs and criminal syndicates as he attempts to secure control of the drugs and weapons trade in the fictional Blaine County, San Andreas. He is portrayed by Canadian actor Steven Ogg, who provided the voice and motion capture for the character.
Perfect Dark is a science-fiction video game series created by Rare and owned by Xbox Game Studios. It debuted in 2000 with the release of the Nintendo 64 first-person shooter Perfect Dark. The series follows Joanna Dark, an agent of the Carrington Institute agency, as she uncovers conspiracies by rival corporation dataDyne. In addition to video games, the series has expanded into novels and comics. These supplements to the video games have resulted in a significant development of the series' fictional universe.
Max Payne is a neo-noir third-person shooter video game series developed by Remedy Entertainment and Rockstar Studios. The series is named after its protagonist, Max Payne, a New York City police detective turned vigilante after his family was murdered by drug addicts. The first two installments were written by Sam Lake, while Max Payne 3 was primarily written by Rockstar Games' Dan Houser.
Bluepoint Games Inc is an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2006 by Andy O'Neil and Marco Thrush, the studio is known for video game remasters and remakes, such as Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection (2015), Shadow of the Colossus (2018), and Demon's Souls (2020). Sony Interactive Entertainment acquired the company in September 2021, making them a first-party developer for PlayStation Studios.
Rockstar Dundee Limited is a British video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Dundee. The studio is best known for developing Crackdown 2.
Stig Asmussen is an American video game developer best known for his work on the God of War series for Santa Monica Studio and the Star Wars Jedi series for Respawn Entertainment. Stig Asmussen founded his own new AAA video game development studio Giant Skull in 2023 September 9.
Respawn Entertainment, LLC is an American video game development studio founded in 2010 by Jason West and Vince Zampella and owned by Electronic Arts since 2017. West and Zampella previously co-founded Infinity Ward and created the Call of Duty franchise, where they were responsible for its development until 2010.
Xbox Entertainment Studios was a short-lived American television and movie studio based in Santa Monica, California created internally by Microsoft Studios in 2012, in order to create "interactive television content" for Xbox Live.
The SXSW Gaming Awards were awards given to video games during the annual South by Southwest Festival (SXSW), held in Austin, Texas typically in March of that year. The Awards were part of the SXSW Gaming Expo which is part of the SXSW Interactive branch of the festival.
Christian Cantamessa is an Italian-American writer, director, and video game creator best known as lead designer and co-writer of Red Dead Redemption and the Manhunt series, level designer on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and writer of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.
Shaddy Safadi is an American video game concept artist who is the co-founder of One Pixel Brush, a concept firm headquartered in Santa Monica.
Perfect Dark is an upcoming action-adventure first-person shooter video game developed by The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics and published by Xbox Game Studios. Announced at The Game Awards in 2020, it is a reboot of the Perfect Dark series. It is set to be released for Windows and Xbox Series X/S.
Everwild is an upcoming action-adventure video game developed by Rare and published by Xbox Game Studios for Windows and Xbox Series X/S.
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