Several developers from Forza Horizon developer Playground Games have made their way to the exit door at Microsoft. According to a report on GamesIndustry.Biz, Forza Horizon‘s Creative Director Mike Brown and other key developers have formed a new studio under the name Maverick Games.
Who is leaving Playground Games?
The newly formed studio, Maverick Games, comprises Mike Brown, Tom Butcher, Matt Craven, Gareth Harwood, Ben Penrose, and Fraser Stachan. Maverick Games are already taking its first steps to create a “premium open-world game” for console and PC.
“For players, we’re already at work on an exciting ultra-high quality title, and for developers, we’re building a home where everyone is encouraged to take risks, be curious, be creative, be innovative, be themselves, and above all–be a Maverick,” – Maverick Games.
The Future of Playground Games
Forza Horizon 5 was a stellar racing game for Xbox when it was released in 2021. Playground Games’ racer cleaned up at the 2021 Game Awards and was SGO’s Sports Game of The Year. Many of us here love the sprawling recreation of Mexico that the Forza Horizon developer created, but where do the recent departures leave the franchise’s future?
As of now, we don’t know. We can speculate that the Forza Horizon series will continue, but the quality of the series could diminish under new leadership. Hopefully, that isn’t the case, and there’s more to come from Xbox’s premium racer.
Playground Games is also working on Xbox’s reboot of Fable. However, my sources tell me that this will unlikely affect the development of Fable because a different team within the studio is handling it.
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