Forza Horizon leads form their own studio

Creative leads who worked on Microsoft’s Forza Horizon have left the studio that made the arcade racing games to form their own studio.

Some of the biggest minds behind Microsoft’s Forza Horizon series have left Forza studio Playground Games and formed their own studio to make blockbuster games.

The new studio, called Maverick Games, is headed up by Mike Brown, who was previously the creative director for the Forza Horizon franchise at Playground. Brown will be joined by other former Playground staff, including executive producer Tom Butcher, CTO Matt Craven, content director Gareth Harwood, and audio director Fraser Strachan.

Maverick Games will be based out of Leamington Spa in the UK, and will be run by COO Harinder Sangha, who previously helped form mobile game development studios Sega Hardlight and Sumo Leamington.

According to GamesIndustry.biz, the studio is aiming to hire up to 140 employees, but currently has just 10. The studio is reportedly working on a big budget open-world game, but says that it probably won’t be a racing game.

Brown says that forming Maverick Games was an easy decision, and that he wants to try a whole new approach to game development.

“Games are made in a very certain way that brings with it real security,” Brown told GamesIndustry.biz, “We know that if we do these things in a row, we will hit this date and the game will come out. I think there are other ways where you can still hit that date, but also do a load of new things on the way”.

The Forza Horizon series is a lot less of a serious racing sim than the Forza main series. Picture: Xbox Game Studios

Brown says that the aim of the new studio is to take risks and foster creativity, adding that he wanted to create a studio where people are excited to come and work. Despite the studio being based in Leamington, Brown says that Maverick will have a “modern approach” to hiring, with options for hybrid and remote working for prospective employees.

Playground games, the developer behind the Forza Horizon series, has been a subsidiary of Microsoft since 2018, around the time of the launch of Forza Horizon 4. The Horizon series is a more arcade-focused approach to racing simulation, with each game being set in an open world environment based on a particular country and culture.

Forza Horizon 3 was set primarily in a fictional representation of Australia, and allowed players to explore locals and regions based on real-life Australian locations, such as the Great Ocean Road and Surfers Paradise.

Forza Horizon 5 was set in a fictional version of Mexico, while previous games have been set in the UK, Australia, Colorado, and France. Picture: Xbox Game Studios

In other racing game news, EA recently cancelled the Project CARS series, after the latest game in the series, Project CARS 3, released to lukewarm reception and sales. EA says that staff working on the title will have the opportunity to move onto other games within EA.

Sony also said that it was “considering” releasing Gran Turismo 7 on PC, in a recent interview with series creator Kazunori Yamauchi. Yamauchi said that Sony was “looking into” bringing the PlayStation exclusive game to PC, but wouldn’t make any promises.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.