LightSpeed Studios Working On Creating Original Games With Its "Original IP Initiative"

Tencent-owned LightSpeed Studios has revealed the "Original IP Initiative," a new strategic focus on creating original video games, at this year's GDC.

Its latest press release highlights the importance of innovation, which "drives player engagement." With this in mind, the studio announced "its commitment to empowering a network of self-sustained, independently run regional studios that will be focused entirely on developing original, cross platform game titles."

LightSpeed STUDIOS is formed by a group of global studios, including LightSpeed LA and the Japan Studio. The former is working on Last Sentinel, a narrative-focused, open-world game, under the management of Steve C. Martin, a Rockstar Games veteran who contributed to titles including Red Dead Redemption I and II and Grand Theft Auto V. The development team is "a world-class, global team," with members from top game developers such as Naughty Dog, Obsidian Entertainment, Sony Santa Monica, Meta, and EA Games. This is a showcase of the studio's policy to take advantage of global talents.

Meanwhile, LightSpeed Japan Studio is working on an "original AAA action game" directed by Hideaki Itsuno, the legendary Director of Dragon's Dogma and Devil May Cry, who joined the newly founded studio after working at Capcom for more than three decades. 

Regarding his new title, whose name has not been announced yet, Hideaki Itsuno has set a high standard for it, saying: "Our focus is on developing gameplay elements that offer players entirely new experiences – the kind of innovations that make players say I've never seen that in a game before."