Microsoft's latest trademark filing has led to the discovery of a first-party game studio that has been around for a while, but recently got a formal name from the company. However, there's no word on what this studio, called Leap Experience Pioneers, is working on.

The filing was made to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last week for "LXP", The filing was for a word mark with this description: "The mark consists of the letters LXP' superimposed over an image of an astronaut." A member of the NeoGAF message board somehow found a connection to the filing, and a London-based design company called Territory Studio. They had created the logos for "LXP", which stands for Leap Experience Pioneers.

The website also has info on the Microsoft group itself. It says:

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 apparently the team has been around for a while, but now it has an official name. Of course, Microsoft has not officially revealed the existence of LXP as they have for their other game development teams such as 343 Industries (Halo), Lionhead (Fable), or Black Tusk Studios (Gears of War). We have contacted Microsoft to see if they can offer any more information on LXP.

Source: USPTO and Territory Studio via NeoGAF | Image via Microsoft