Consisting of a ring 27 kilometers (16.7 miles) in circumference, the machine is made of superconducting magnets chilled to ‑271.3°C (-456 F) — which is colder than outer space. It works by smashing tiny particles together to allow scientists to observe them, and to see what’s inside.
It may sound like the stuff of science fiction, but the revamped collider will ultimately allow mankind to observe dark matter, physicists hope.
Back in 2011 the Large Hadron Collider, located 100 meters underground at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), helped scientists prove the existence of an subatomic particle called the Higgs boson — which is thought to be a fundamental building block of the universe dating back to the Big Bang billions of years ago.
CERN said on its website that the collider magnets “squeeze” tiny particles causing them to crash together, which scientists then observe.
These particles are so tiny, CERN said, that lining them up to smash together is “akin to firing two needles 10 kilometers apart with such precision that they meet halfway.”
Improvements to the collider mean scientists will be able to study the Higgs boson in “great detail,” CERN said in a press release Friday.
Now a team of experts hope to be able to collide yet more particles together with the aim of understanding the mysteries of dark matter — an invisible and elusive mass that can’t be seen because it doesn’t absorb, reflect or emit any light.
A complex operation, fraught with ‘tension’
Dark matter is thought to make up most of the universe’s matter, and has previously been detected by its ability to create gravitational distortions in outer space.
Scientists will also focus experiments that they hope will increase their knowledge of cosmic ray showers — which occur when tiny particles from space come into contact with the atmosphere and then “shower” down to earth, said CERN.
The Large Hadron Collider was first launched in September 2008 and has been closed for three years for an upgrade. Turning it back on was a complex operation.
Switching it on “comes with a certain sense of tension, nervousness,” Rende Steerenberg, who is in charge of control room operations, told Reuters earlier this week.
Dark matter, the elusive substance that accounts for the majority of the mass in the Universe, may be made up of massive particles called gravitons that first popped into existence in the first moment after the Big Bang.
And these hypothetical particles might be cosmic refugees from extra dimensions, a new theory suggests.
The researchers’ calculations hint that these particles could have been created in just the right quantities to explain dark matter, which can only be “seen” through its gravitational pull on ordinary matter.
“Massive gravitons are produced by collisions of ordinary particles in the early Universe.
This process was believed to be too rare for the massive gravitons to be dark matter candidates,” study co-author Giacomo Cacciapaglia, a physicist at the University of Lyon in France, told Live Science.
But in a new study published in February in the journal Physical Review Letters, Cacciapaglia, along with Korea University physicists Haiying Cai and Seung J. Lee, found that enough of these gravitons would have been made in the early Universe to account for all of the dark matter we currently detect in the Universe.
The gravitons, if they exist, would have a mass of less than 1 megaelectronvolt (MeV), so no more than twice the mass of an electron, the study found.
This mass level is well below the scale at which the Higgs boson generates mass for ordinary matter – which is key for the model to produce enough of them to account for all the dark matter in the Universe. (For comparison, the lightest known particle, the neutrino, weighs less than 2 electronvolts, while a proton weighs roughly 940 MeV, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology.)
The team found these hypothetical gravitons while hunting for evidence of extra dimensions, which some physicists suspect exist alongside the observed three dimensions of space and the fourth dimension, time.
In the team’s theory, when gravity propagates through extra dimensions, it materializes in our Universe as massive gravitons.
But these particles would interact only weakly with ordinary matter, and only via the force of gravity.
This description is eerily similar to what we know about dark matter, which does not interact with light yet has a gravitational influence felt everywhere in the Universe. This gravitational influence, for instance, is what prevents galaxies from flying apart.
“The main advantage of massive gravitons as dark matter particles is that they only interact gravitationally, hence they can escape attempts to detect their presence,” Cacciapaglia said.
In contrast, other proposed dark matter candidates – such as weakly interacting massive particles, axions, and neutrinos – might also be felt by their very subtle interactions with other forces and fields.
The fact that massive gravitons barely interact via gravity with the other particles and forces in the Universe offers another advantage.
“Due to their very weak interactions, they decay so slowly that they remain stable over the lifetime of the Universe,” Cacciapaglia said, “For the same reason, they are slowly produced during the expansion of the Universe and accumulate there until today.”
In the past, physicists thought gravitons were unlikely dark matter candidates because the processes that create them are extremely rare. As a result, gravitons would be created at much lower rates than other particles.
But the team found that in the picosecond (trillionth of a second) after the Big Bang, more of these gravitons would have been created than past theories suggested.
This enhancement was enough for massive gravitons to completely explain the amount of dark matter we detect in the Universe, the study found.
“The enhancement did come as a shock,” Cacciapaglia said. “We had to perform many checks to make sure that the result was correct, as it results in a paradigm shift in the way we consider massive gravitons as potential dark matter candidates.”
Because massive gravitons form below the energy scale of the Higgs boson, they are freed from uncertainties related to higher energy scales, which current particle physics doesn’t describe very well.
The team’s theory connects physics studied at particle accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider with the physics of gravity.
This means that powerful particle accelerators like the Future Circular Collider at CERN, which should begin operating in 2035, could hunt for evidence of these potential dark matter particles.
“Probably the best shot we have is at future high-precision particle colliders,” Cacciapaglia said. “This is something we are currently investigating.”
This article was originally published by Live Science. Read the original article here.
Dark matter, the elusive substance that accounts for the majority of the mass in the universe, may be made up of massive particles called gravitons that first popped into existence in the first moment after the Big Bang. And these hypothetical particles might be cosmic refugees from extra dimensions, a new theory suggests.
The researchers’ calculations hint that these particles could have been created in just the right quantities to explain dark matter, which can only be “seen” through its gravitational pull on ordinary matter. “Massive gravitons are produced by collisions of ordinary particles in the early universe. This process was believed to be too rare for the massive gravitons to be dark matter candidates,” study co-author Giacomo Cacciapaglia, a physicist at the University of Lyon in France, told Live Science.
But in a new study published in February in the journal Physical Review Letters (opens in new tab), Cacciapaglia, along with Korea University physicists Haiying Cai and Seung J. Lee, found that enough of these gravitons would have been made in the early universe to account for all of the dark matter we currently detect in the universe.
The gravitons, if they exist, would have a mass of less than 1 megaelectronvolt (MeV), so no more than twice the mass of an electron, the study found. This mass level is well below the scale at which the Higgs boson generates mass for ordinary matter — which is key for the model to produce enough of them to account for all the dark matter in the universe. (For comparison, the lightest known particle, the neutrino, weighs less than 2 electronvolts, while a proton weighs roughly 940 MeV, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (opens in new tab).)
The team found these hypothetical gravitons while hunting for evidence of extra dimensions, which some physicists suspect exist alongside the observed three dimensions of space and the fourth dimension, time.
Could the universe have more dimensions than we realize? (Image credit: Getty Images)
In the team’s theory, when gravity propagates through extra dimensions, it materializes in our universe as massive gravitons.
But these particles would interact only weakly with ordinary matter, and only via the force of gravity. This description is eerily similar to what we know about dark matter, which does not interact with light yet has a gravitational influence felt everywhere in the universe. This gravitational influence, for instance, is what prevents galaxies from flying apart.
“The main advantage of massive gravitons as dark matter particles is that they only interact gravitationally, hence they can escape attempts to detect their presence,” Cacciapaglia said.
In contrast, other proposed dark matter candidates — such as weakly interacting massive particles, axions and neutrinos — might also be felt by their very subtle interactions with other forces and fields.
The fact that massive gravitons barely interact via gravity with the other particles and forces in the universe offers another advantage.
“Due to their very weak interactions, they decay so slowly that they remain stable over the lifetime of the universe,” Cacciapaglia said, “For the same reason, they are slowly produced during the expansion of the universe and accumulate there until today.”
In the past, physicists thought gravitons were unlikely dark matter candidates because the processes that create them are extremely rare. As a result, gravitons would be created at much lower rates than other particles.
The earliest stars and galaxies were formed in the first few hundred million years after the Big Bang, shown here in this illustration of the evolution of the universe. (Image credit: Harikane et al., NASA, EST and P. Oesch/Yale)
But the team found that in the picosecond (trillionth of a second) after the Big Bang, more of these gravitons would have been created than past theories suggested. This enhancement was enough for massive gravitons to completely explain the amount of dark matter we detect in the universe, the study found.
“The enhancement did come as a shock,” Cacciapaglia said. “We had to perform many checks to make sure that the result was correct, as it results in a paradigm shift in the way we consider massive gravitons as potential dark matter candidates.”
Because massive gravitons form below the energy scale of the Higgs boson, they are freed from uncertainties related to higher energy scales, which current particle physics doesn’t describe very well.
The team’s theory connects physics studied at particle accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider with the physics of gravity. This means that powerful particle accelerators like the Future Circular Collider at CERN, which should begin operating in 2035, could hunt for evidence of these potential dark matter particles.
“Probably the best shot we have is at future high-precision particle colliders,” Cacciapaglia said. “This is something we are currently investigating.”
The Xbox Game Pass app has now confirmed which games will be leaving the service in the first half of the month. MLB The Show 21, The Long Dark, Rain on Your Parade, and Pathway, will all drop out of Game Pass on April 16th.
MLB The Show 21
With MLB The Show 22 launching into Xbox Game Pass on April 5th, it makes sense for MLB The Show 21 to drop out of the service. Estimates say it will take you around 25 hours to unlock all 25 of the MLB The Show 21 achievements. To help you on your quest to a full 1,000G, make sure you check out Maxumilli0n’s detailed MLB The Show 21 Walkthrough, which suggests you might actually be able to get this one finished in a much shorter time than our completion estimate states.
MLB® The Show™ 21 Xbox One
Own your rivals. Own the show. Welcome to MLB® The Show 21™.
Experience faster, deeper and more intense moment-to-moment match action on the field, with a variety of game modes for all you rookie players and returning seasoned vets.
Rain on Your Parade
To complete the base Rain on Your Parade achievements, you’ll need to set aside around eight hours to unlock the game’s 22 achievements. However, don’t let its short completion time and sweet presentation fool you — Rain on Your Parade can get pretty tough in places. For a helping hand, give Fluke939’s excellent Rain on Your Parade Walkthrough a read, which will give you a few tips on how to complete those annoying, no damage speedrun achievements.
Rain on Your Parade
Travel the world as a cute cardboard cloud and ruin everybody’s day! Unlock new methods of mischief across 50 levels, each with unique setting and objectives. Make new friends and help them too – it’s an adorable schadenfreude game!
The Long Dark
For those looking for a challenge and have around 140 hours to spare, The Long Dark is an incredibly challenging completion — just take a look at The Long Dark achievements. Although it is an excellent survival game, you’re going to need some serious dedication to complete this one if you haven’t already started it, and its two free title updates.
The Long Dark
The Long Dark is a thoughtful, exploration-survival experience that challenges solo players to think for themselves as they explore an expansive frozen wilderness in the aftermath of a geomagnetic disaster. There are no zombies — only you, the cold, and all the threats Mother Nature can muster.
Pathway
Also dropping out of PC Game Pass on April 16th is Pathway, the turn-based strategy game from developer Robotality. This also looks to be a tough completion, judging by some of the high-ratio Pathway achievements. Just 15 players from the 1,500 that have started Pathway have completed it, with some of those giving us a completion estimate of around 50 hours.
Pathway
Unravel long-forgotten mysteries of the occult, raid ancient tombs and outwit your foes in turn-based squad combat!
Also dropping out of Game Pass soon are F1 2019, which leaves Xbox Game Pass and EA Play on April 18th, and Destiny 2’s expansions, which leave PC Game Pass on April 11th.
Which of these do you still need to complete? Let us know down in the comments!
Gearbox Software has announced that the first update for Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands should now be live across all platforms. Update 1.0.1.0b doesn’t change much, but it does provide some quality of life updates that will make the game easier for many, particularly Spellshot mains.
This update brings a few minor changes that have a significant impact. Dark magic scaling on weapons has been improved to match other elemental weapons, meaning running dark magic is as viable as any elemental build. Legendary spells have also been updated to share the color of the element they add to your Fatemaker. Their icon now matches their casting style, making it easier to understand and craft the perfect loadout.
Finally, Chaos Bunnies in the Chaos Chamber have been updated so that they now only contain Chaos Chamber-specific loot. Players have been understandably frustrated about receiving standard world loot after pouring in hours of effort into Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands’ endgame. Now you’ve got a much better chance of earning the best loot from the toughest activity.
In the patch notes for Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands Update 1.0.1.0b, Gearbox Software also acknowledges the issues players have experienced with the game’s matchmaking, crossplay, and online services. It encourages players to continue to report issues so that new fixes can be pushed out to make multiplayer a smooth and enjoyable experience.
Both Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time are playable on PC thanks to the tireless work of fans in the reverse engineering community. Heck, Ocarina of Time on PC just became available today!
That doesn’t mean they’re stopping, though. While we’ve mentioned the Majora’s Mask project before, it seems like there are a number of Nintendo 64 classics that are slated to make their way (legally) to PCs, according to our friends at VGC.
Here’s a handy list of which titles you could be getting jiggy with on your PC in the future, all thanks to reverse engineering:
Of course, once all of these are reverse engineered, it doesn’t mean they’re ready to go straight away. They require even more work to make them playable. Some are a lot closer to being wholly decompiled than others, too, and not all have been picked up by fan communities to port to PC fully.
But, wow, can we get Snowboard Kids or Space Station Silicon Valley on Nintendo Switch Online, please?
Are you interested in any of these fan-made ports? Let us know in the comments.
Christopher Lloyd has joined the cast for the third season of “The Mandalorian” which has been filming in Southern California since October.
Character details for his role are being kept under wraps, but it is said to be a guest starring part only as opposed to a recurring or regular role.
This marks Lloyd’s first appearance in the “Star Wars” franchise, the actor is best known for his role in the “Back to the Future” franchise and played the villain in “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock” in 1984.
Most recently he appeared with a memorable role in the Bob Odenkirk action movie “Nobody” and popped up in George Clooney’s “The Tender Bar”.
No release date has been revealed for “The Mandalorian” season three though a late Fall/holiday release window is the most likely scenario. Lucasfilm is currently prepping for the May 25th premiere of “Obi-Wan Kenobi”.
A wild new theory suggests there may be another “anti-universe,” running backward in time prior to the Big Bang.
The idea assumes that the early universe was small, hot and dense — and so uniform that time looks symmetric going backward and forward.
If true, the new theory means that dark matter isn’t so mysterious; it’s just a new flavor of a ghostly particle called a neutrino that can only exist in this kind of universe. And the theory implies there would be no need for a period of “inflation” that rapidly expanded the size of the young cosmos soon after the Big Bang.
If true, then future experiments to hunt for gravitational waves, or to pin down the mass of neutrinos, could answer once and for all whether this mirror anti-universe exists.
Preserving symmetry
Physicists have identified a set of fundamental symmetries in nature. The three most important symmetries are: charge (if you flip the charges of all the particles involved in an interaction to their opposite charge, you’ll get the same interaction); parity (if you look at the mirror image of an interaction, you get the same result); and time (if you run an interaction backward in time, it looks the same).
Physical interactions obey most of these symmetries most of the time, which means that there are sometimes violations. But physicists have never observed a violation of a combination of all three symmetries at the same time. If you take every single interaction observed in nature and flip the charges, take the mirror image, and run it backward in time, those interactions behave exactly the same.
This fundamental symmetry is given a name: CPT symmetry, for charge (C), parity (P) and time (T).
Related: What is multiverse theory?
In a new paper recently accepted for publication in the journal Annals of Physics, scientists propose extending this combined symmetry. Usually this symmetry only applies to interactions — the forces and fields that make up the physics of the cosmos. But perhaps, if this is such an incredibly important symmetry, it applies to the whole entire universe itself. In other words, this idea extends this symmetry from applying to just the “actors” of the universe (forces and fields) to the “stage” itself, the entire physical object of the universe.
Creating dark matter
We live in an expanding universe. This universe is filled with lots of particles doing lots of interesting things, and the evolution of the universe moves forward in time. If we extend the concept of CPT symmetry to our entire cosmos, then our view of the universe can’t be the entire picture.
Instead, there must be more. To preserve the CPT symmetry throughout the cosmos, there must be a mirror-image cosmos that balances out our own. This cosmos would have all opposite charges than we have, be flipped in the mirror, and run backward in time. Our universe is just one of a twin. Taken together, the two universes obey CPT symmetry.
The study researchers next asked what the consequences of such a universe would be.
They found many wonderful things.
For one, a CPT-respecting universe naturally expands and fills itself with particles, without the need for a long-theorized period of rapid expansion known as inflation. While there’s a lot of evidence that an event like inflation occurred, the theoretical picture of that event is incredibly fuzzy. It’s so fuzzy that there is plenty of room for proposals of viable alternatives.
Second, a CPT-respecting universe would add some additional neutrinos to the mix. There are three known neutrino flavors: the electron-neutrino, muon-neutrino and tau-neutrino. Strangely, all three of these neutrino flavors are left-handed (referring to the direction of its spin relative to its motion). All other particles known to physics have both left- and right-handed varieties, so physicists have long wondered if there are additional right-handed neutrinos.
A CPT-respecting universe would demand the existence of at least one right-handed neutrino species. This species would be largely invisible to physics experiments, only ever influencing the rest of the universe through gravity.
But an invisible particle that floods the universe and only interacts via gravity sounds a lot like dark matter.
The researchers found that the conditions imposed by obeying CPT symmetry would fill our universe with right-handed neutrinos, enough to account for the dark matter.
Predictions in the mirror
We would never have access to our twin, the CPT-mirror universe, because it exists “behind” our Big Bang, before the beginning of our cosmos. But that doesn’t mean we can’t test this idea.
The researchers found a few observational consequences of this idea. For one, they predict that the three known left-handed neutrino species should all be Majorana particles, which means that they are their own antiparticles (in contrast to normal particles like the electron, which have antimatter counterparts called the positrons). As of now, physicists aren’t sure if neutrinos have this property or not.
Additionally, they predict that one of the neutrino species should be massless. Currently, physicists can only place upper limits on the neutrino masses. If physicists can ever conclusively measure the neutrino masses, and one of them is indeed massless, that would greatly bolster the idea of a CPT-symmetric universe.
Lastly, in this model the event of inflation never occurred. Instead, the universe filled with particles naturally on its own. Physicists believe that inflation shook space-time to such a tremendous degree that it flooded the cosmos with gravitational waves. Many experiments are on the hunt for these primordial gravitational waves. But in a CPT-symmetric universe, no such waves should exist. So if those searches for primordial gravitational waves turn up empty, that might be a clue that this CPT-mirror universe model is correct.
Xbox [4,729 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/xbox/”>Xbox’s The Initiative [42 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/microsoft/the-initiative/”>The Initiative studio has seen a “fast and furious” wave of senior departures in the past 12 months, VGC has learned.
As much as half of the core development team known to be working on the upcoming Perfect Dark [39 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/games/perfect-dark/”>Perfect Dark reboot quit the company during the last year, or around 34 people, analysis of employee LinkedIn profiles has revealed.
That includes most of The Initiative’s senior design team, including game director Dan Neuburger, design director Drew Murray, lead level designer Chris O’Neill, principal world builder Jolyon Myers, two senior system designers, a group of three former God of War designers and more.
And the turnover of top talent doesn’t end in design: Perfect Dark’s two most senior writers also recently quit, analysis shows, along with the project’s technical director, tech art director, lead gameplay engineer, lead animator, QA lead and more.
According to LinkedIn, The Initiative is now less than 50 people (when duplicates, former employees and erroneous listings are removed) and currently has just three roles advertised on its website. Analysis suggests it hired around 12 people in the past 12 months.
Perfect Dark reboot trailer
The timing of the departures coincides with the September 2021 announcement that Crystal Dynamics had been signed to co-develop Perfect Dark.
This, combined with the few job roles currently advertised at The Initiative, suggests that the Tomb Raider developer is likely taking a much stronger lead than first thought on the project.
Interviews with multiple former senior developers cited a lack of creative autonomy and slow development progress as the reason for their departures, and described the wave of exits as “fast and furious” with project momentum said to be “heavily affected”.
The Initiative’s management told VGC it’s confident in the team it has in place, and new talent joining, and pointed to industry-wide staffing challenges during the pandemic.
“It’s no small task to build a studio and reinvent a beloved franchise,” studio head Darrell Gallagher told VGC. “In creating The Initiative, we set out to leverage co-development partnerships to achieve our ambitions, and we’re really excited about all the progress we’re seeing with our relationship with Crystal Dynamics [107 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/square-enix/square-enix-europe/crystal-dynamics/”>Crystal Dynamics.
“In this journey, it’s not uncommon for there to be staffing changes, especially during a time of global upheaval over the last two years, and there’s plenty more work in front of us to deliver a fantastic Perfect Dark experience to our players.
“We wish all our former colleagues the very best, and I’m confident in the team we have in place, the new talent joining, and we can’t wait to share more with the fans.”
In the games industry, competition for experienced talent is at an all-time high following the pandemic gaming boom, and any unhappy staff would have had plenty of offers from the myriad of neighbouring AAA studios in California.
The Initiative was formed in 2018.
Across the industry, many studios are currently facing a talent crisis, with the sheer level of expansion and investment making it challenging for even the biggest studios to retain and attract senior staff for the number of roles they have.
The former Initiative developers VGC spoke to attributed the wave of departures to frustration among senior talent over the direction of the project set down by Gallagher and game director Daniel Neuburger (who himself left the company last month).
Although The Initiative’s website claims that the company promotes a “collaborative” creative environment, former employees described the studio’s development hierarchy as very ‘top-down’, with Gallagher and Neuburger keeping a strong grasp on creative decisions.
According to the former employees, many senior team members were frustrated by this perceived lack of autonomy and didn’t feel heard on key issues such as development priorities, project planning and team staffing.
Gallagher and Neuburger, who were previously studio head and game director at Crystal Dynamics, wanted to make games the way they always had with top-down direction, the sources said, while many Initiative employees were expecting a more bottom-up approach.
As a result, it’s claimed that development has progressed “painfully” slow and a solid company culture never formed. All former employees VGC spoke to said they were surprised at how lenient Xbox Game Studios (Microsoft) [1,872 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/microsoft/”>Microsoft had been over the lack of progress.
One person said: “Making games is hard enough, let alone when you feel like you can’t get through to people making the decisions that affect everyone”.
The culture issue was partly behind the decision to bring onboard Crystal Dynamics, it’s claimed, with Gallagher and Neuburger allegedly hoping that production would move more smoothly with the introduction of a second team familiar with their methods.
Development on Perfect Dark is claimed to have been “painfully” slow.
Crystal Dynamics’ introduction is also now likely to plug the gaps left by The Initiative’s staff turnover, VGC was told.
VGC’s sources agreed that they would be surprised if Crystal Dynamics’ introduction, combined with the significant departures of core staff, hadn’t triggered an effective soft reboot of Perfect Dark and that it was likely still years away from release.
It’s understood that Xbox’s leadership team are prepared to be patient with their new first-party teams (which includes those currently working on Playground Games [105 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/microsoft/playground-games/”>Playground‘s Fable and Rare [160 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/microsoft/rare/”>Rare‘s Everwild [19 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/games/everwild/”>Everwild), as they prioritise assembling groups capable of regularly producing the kind of critically-acclaimed prestige projects that come from Sony Interactive Entertainment [2,059 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/sony/”>Sony’s Naughty Dog [203 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/sony/naughty-dog/”>Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games [154 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/sony/insomniac-games/”>Insomniac.
Perfect Dark dev team
(departures marked by strikeout) / Former team/projects in brackets
Studio
Darrell Gallagher, studio head ( Activision [834 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/activision-blizzard/activision/”>Activision, Square Enix [439 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/square-enix/”>Square Enix)
Daniel Neuburger, game director (Tomb Raider series) (left Feb 2022)
Drew Murray, design director (Sunset Overdrive) (left Feb 2021)
Christian Cantamessa, cinematics director (Red Dead Redemption)
Chris O’Neill, lead level designer, associate design director ( God of War [187 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/games/god-of-war-series/god-of-war/”>God of War + Metal Gear Online) (left Dec 2021)
Richard Burns, UI/UX lead ( Forza Horizon 4 [109 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/games/forza-series/forza-horizon-4/”>Forza Horizon series)
Robert Ryan, senior systems designer ( Motive Studios [54 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/electronic-arts/motive-studios/”>Motive + Naughty Dog)
Justin Perez, senior systems designer ( Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order [129 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/games/star-wars-games/star-wars-jedi-fallen-order/”>Jedi: Fallen Order) (left Nov 2021)
Kurt Loudy, senior systems designer ( id Software [122 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/zenimax-media/id-software/”>Id Software) (left Oct 2021)
Ian Miller, senior designer (God of War) (left Mar 2022)
Kai Zheng, principal level designer (God of War) (left Oct 2021)
Ray Yeomans, senior designer (God of War & Tomb Raider series) (left Apr 2021)
Jolyon Myers, principal world builder ( Infinity Ward [456 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/activision-blizzard/activision/infinity-ward/”>Infinity Ward) (left Jan 2022)
Nigel Loster, gameplay designer ( The Coalition [44 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/microsoft/the-coalition/”>The Coalition) (left Feb 2022)
Sean Slayback, lead systems designer ( Respawn Entertainment [189 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/electronic-arts/respawn-entertainment/”>Respawn, Infinity ward) (left Aug 2021)
Daniel Steam [910 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/pc/steam/”>Steamer, lead technical designer (Crystal Dynamics)
Cristian Guzman, associate technical designer
Remi Lacoste, experiential director (Crystal Dynamics)
Joey Tan, associate technical designer (Insomniac) (left Dec 2021)
Branford Williams, principal production designer (Daybreak)
Writers
Blake Fischer, director of narrative (Xbox) (left Jun 2021)
Robert Shannon, narrative designer (The Coalition)
Nicole Phillips, principal writer
Programming
William Archbell, technical director ( Riot Games [60 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/riot-games/”>Riot Games, 343) (left Aug 2021)
Francisco Aisa Garcia, technical lead (Naughty Dog)
Ben Diamond, lead systems engineer (Respawn, God of War III)
Cesar Castro, senior software engineer ( EA Sports [138 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/electronic-arts/ea-sports/”>EA Sports UFC, FIFA) (left May 2021)
Ryan Duffin, gameplay animation director ( BioWare [96 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/electronic-arts/bioware/”>BioWare, EA DICE [180 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/electronic-arts/ea-dice/”>DICE)
Lee Davis, lead gameplay animator (Naughty Dog) (left Mar 2022)
Jason Priest, lead artist (Insomniac)
Erik Jakobsen, environment art director (God of War)
Marcia Hunsicker, senior gameplay animator (343)
Eric Persson, associate art director (left Aug 2021)
Ryan Trowbridge, tech art director ( SIE Bend Studio [34 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/sony/sie-bend-studio/”>Bend Studio) (left Jun 2021)
Matt Corcoran, principal character artist (Jurassic World movie) (left Feb 2022)
Sze Jones, principal character artist (Tomb Raider, Uncharted (series) [184 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/games/uncharted-series/”>Uncharted 4) (left Dec 2020)
Tyler Thornock, principal technical animator (Naughty Dog)
Giovanni Martinez, senior environment artist (Insomniac) Sep 2021
Justin Walters, senior environment artist (Avalanche)
Pasquale Scionti, senior environment/lighting artist (left Jun 2021)
Sarah Swenson, environment artist (Naughty Dog) (left Mar 2021)
Jaime Molina, environment artist (Infinity Ward)
Patrick Ward, 3D environment artist ( Nexon [5 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/nexon/”>Nexon) (left May 2021)
Fabian Elmers, senior tech artist
Oliver Guiney, concept artist ( Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 [78 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/games/call-of-duty/call-of-duty-black-ops-4/”>Black Ops 4)
Isaac Yeram Kim, concept artist (Naughty Dog) (left Jun 2021)
Victor Chavez, senior animator ( Amazon Games [251 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/amazon-games/”>Amazon Game Studios)
Carlos G, senior tech artist
Arlington Cruz, animator (left Jan 2021)
Sylvia Chambers, animator (Naughty Dog) (left Oct 2021)
Recent new hires
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Alex Leonard, senior gameplay engineer (Treyarch) Nov 2021
Michaela Cristina-Faith, game engineer Dec 2021
Peter Santoki, senior graphics engineer ( 2K Games [278 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/take-two-interactive/2k-games/”>2K) Jan 2022
Heather Jackett, senior level designer (The Coalition) Feb 2022
Perfect Dark game director Dan Neuburger has seemingly left The Initiative after working with the company for nearly four years.
As reported by VGC, ResetERA user Klobrille noticed the change on Neuburger’s LinkedIn profile that shows February 2022 was his last month at The Initiative. Furthermore, his profile page says that he is “open to work” immediately and is looking for a position as a game director, creative director, or design director.
Neuburger had worked at Tomb Raider’s Crystal Dynamics for over 12 years before his time with The Initiative – the same studio that has teamed up with The Initiative to help finish development on the reboot of Perfect Dark.
This isn’t the first high-level departure from The Initiative, as the company’s former design director Drew Murray announced that he was leaving the company in February 2021 and would be returning to his old studio Insomniac Games.
Perfect Dark was revealed at The Game Awards 2020 and is set to be a first-person shooter with an “eco-sci-fi” that is “aiming to deliver a secret agent thriller set in a near-future world.”
The Initiative itself was announced at E3 2018 as Microsoft’s first-ever ‘AAAA’ studio that would be “challenging themselves to do new things (and old things) in new ways.”
Perfect Dark, a franchise that began on the N64 in 2000, currently has no release date.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
