First-party Xbox development team The Initiative will be announcing its first game later this month, a new report has revealed. A rumor from just last week claimed that The Initiative is developing an action-adventure game that will have online features.
A report by Video Games Chronicle has revealed that the Xbox team will be holding an Xbox Game Studios event on July 23, 2020. Sources claim that the event will feature The Initiative among a star-studded lineup of first-party Xbox studios. The Santa Monica-based development team was founded in 2018 and this would be its first game.
Very little is known about The Initiative's first game outside of unconfirmed leaks. The Initiative has been amassing a stellar team made up of developers who have worked on some of the biggest games of the last few years. In 2019, The Initiative hired a former The Last of Us Part 2 developer along with developers who have worked on games like God of War and series like Call of Duty and Battlefield.
While these are all very big games, it doesn't offer any suggestions on what genre The Initiative's first game may be. There may be several shooters listed there and action-adventure titles are also represented but with hires having worked on BioWare's sci-fi RPG Anthem and CD Projekt RED's hugely popular game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, The Initiative could easily be working on an RPG.
It's also unclear just how much information fans will get about the game. As The Initiative has been developing the game for several years, it is possible that fans will get to see gameplay and not just a CGI trailer for the title. In February, Xbox boss Phil Spencer confirmed that he has played The Initiative's game and this suggests that development may not be so far off from completion. This could potentially mean that a release date, or a release window, for the game will be announced.
Until the Xbox team releases a teaser or makes an announcement about the event, The Initiative's participation in the Xbox Game Studios show is just speculation. Developer 343 Industries did officially confirm that its game Halo Infinite would be shown at the Xbox Game Studios event. However, the rumored game announcements from inXile Entertainment and Obsidian Entertainment have not been officially confirmed by the Xbox team.
Source: Video Games Chronicle