It’s not every day that we find out about a totally new studio that has secretly been incubating under a big publishers wing for who knows how long via a trademark, but that’s exactly what some NeoGAF users discovered with their famous sleuthing skills.

The new internal development studio is called Leap Experience Pioneers (doesn’t quite roll off the tongue) The contents of the mark can be found below:

Word Mark LXP
Goods and Services IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: Game software
Mark Drawing Code (0) UNKNOWN
Serial Number 86213555
Filing Date March 6, 2014
Current Basis 1B
Original Filing Basis 1B
Owner (APPLICANT) Microsoft Corporation CORPORATION WASHINGTON 1 Microsoft Way Redmond WASHINGTON 980526399
Description of Mark The mark consists of The letters “LXP” superimposed over an image of an astronaut.
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE

After the NeoGAF users dug a bit further, the found a website featuring all of the variations of the logo for the studio, which are apparently done by a company named Territory Studio, who helped in part to create the brand and identity of the new team.

There was also an official blurb for the studio found:

Leap Experience Pioneers (LXP) are an in-house games developer for Microsoft based in the US. Although they had been in existence for some years they thought it was the right time to define their identity. Something that all parts of their business could relate to, but more importantly, be inspired by. They considered themselves pioneers (as their name suggests) and wanted to encapsulate the the spirit of fronteering Americans – combining a cowboy with an astronaut with attitude.

So while we don’t know what exactly they’re working on, or for what platform, it definitely sounds like something to be revealed at E3, or possibly even GDC this year. We’ll keep you guys posted.