{"id":182661,"date":"2023-01-10T14:35:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-10T14:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/forza-horizon-leads-leave-xboxs-playground-games-to-form-new-aaa-studio\/"},"modified":"2023-01-10T14:35:00","modified_gmt":"2023-01-10T14:35:00","slug":"forza-horizon-leads-leave-xboxs-playground-games-to-form-new-aaa-studio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/forza-horizon-leads-leave-xboxs-playground-games-to-form-new-aaa-studio\/","title":{"rendered":"Forza Horizon leads leave Xbox’s Playground Games to form new AAA studio"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Some of the key talent behind Microsoft’s Forza Horizon series has left Xbox’s Playground Games to form a new triple-A development studio called Maverick Games.<\/p>\n

The Leamington Spa, UK-based outfit’s founding team is led by former Forza Horizon creative director Mike Brown, who’s serving as its creative director and studio head.<\/p>\n

The start-up said it has secured significant seed funding and its debut game will be a new, premium open-world title for consoles and PC, although Tuesday’s announcement didn’t confirm if it’s in the racing genre.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

<\/svg>Forza Horizon 5 – Official Launch Trailer<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Maverick’s leadership team also includes chief operating officer Harinder Sangha, who was previously co-studio head of Sumo Digital Leamington, and executive producer Tom Butcher, who was formerly lead producer at Playground.<\/p>\n

Its chief technology officer Matt Craven was Playground’s technical director, its content director Gareth Harwood was technical art director at the Xbox studio, and audio director Fraser Strachan held the same role at the Forza developer.<\/p>\n

Ex-Playground studio art director Ben Penrose is Maverick’s art director, while former EA experience design director Elly Marshall is the company’s UX\/UI director.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is for Maverick Games to be a studio people will love,\u201d said Brown. \u201cFor 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 \u2013 be a Maverick.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

Forza Horizon 5 released in November 2021 and enjoyed the biggest launch in Xbox history, attracting over 10 million players in its first week, according to Microsoft.<\/p>\n

Like all first-party Microsoft games, the title is included with Xbox Game Pass, and it reached 20 million players in under seven months.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Some of the key talent behind Microsoft’s Forza Horizon series has left Xbox’s Playground Games to form a new triple-A development studio called Maverick Games. The Leamington Spa, UK-based outfit’s founding team is led by former Forza Horizon creative director Mike Brown, who’s serving as its creative director and studio head. The start-up said it …<\/p>\n

Forza Horizon leads leave Xbox’s Playground Games to form new AAA studio<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nForza Horizon leads leave Xbox's Playground Games to form new AAA studio - harchi90<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/__i\/rss\/rd\/articles\/CBMicWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnZpZGVvZ2FtZXNjaHJvbmljbGUuY29tL25ld3MvZm9yemEtaG9yaXpvbi1sZWFkcy1sZWF2ZS14Ym94cy1wbGF5Z3JvdW5kLWdhbWVzLXRvLWZvcm0tbmV3LWFhYS1zdHVkaW8v0gEA?oc=5\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Forza Horizon leads leave Xbox's Playground Games to form new AAA studio - harchi90\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some of the key talent behind Microsoft’s Forza Horizon series has left Xbox’s Playground Games to form a new triple-A development studio called Maverick Games. 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The development team is at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":115136,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/horizon-forbidden-west-writer-joins-fable-reboot\/","url_meta":{"origin":182661,"position":1},"title":"Horizon: Forbidden West Writer Joins Fable Reboot","date":"November 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"A senior writer on Horizon: Forbidden West has left Guerrilla Games to join Playground and work on the upcoming Xbox exclusive Fable reboot.As reported by Eurogamer, Andrew Walsh announced on LinkedIn that he was leaving the world of PlayStation to start work on its rival Xbox's upcoming fantasy game developed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":146984,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/forza-horizon-5-details-whats-coming-with-horizon-holidays\/","url_meta":{"origin":182661,"position":2},"title":"Forza Horizon 5 details what’s coming with Horizon Holidays","date":"December 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Playground Games has outlined what's to come to Forza Horizon 5 with the Horizon Holidays, including new Festival Playlists, the return of an \"improved\" Secret Santa, and more.Forza Horizon 5 kicks things off with the Horizon Holidays soon, with a new Festival Playlist series beginning next week on December 8th,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","img":{"alt_text":"forza horizon 5 horizon holidays","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.google.com\/imgs\/l\/135025\/forza-horizon-5-horizon-holidays.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":117536,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/forza-horizon-5-is-adding-dlss-2-0-fsr-2-and-more-extensive-ray-tracing-on-pc-next-week\/","url_meta":{"origin":182661,"position":3},"title":"Forza Horizon 5 is Adding DLSS 2.0, FSR 2, and More Extensive Ray Tracing on PC Next Week","date":"November 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Forza Horizon 5 is no slouch in the visual department, but today Playground Games revealed the game will soon look better than even on PC. A new update hitting the track next week will expand the game's use of ray tracing and add DLSS 2.0, DLAA, and FSR 2 support.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.wccftech.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/WCCFforzahorizon519-728x410.jpg.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19401,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/forza-horizon-5-hot-wheels-dlc-for-xbox-available-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":182661,"position":4},"title":"Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC for Xbox available now","date":"July 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Forza Horizon and Hot Wheels team up again starting today in Forza Horizon 5, which adds a fleet of die-cast collectibles and plastic track infrastructure to a new racing hub and the game's course creation toolkit. Microsoft promises that players have access to more than \u201c80 distinct, snappable track pieces\u201d\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137073,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/microsoft-issuing-refunds-after-forza-horizon-4-5-bundle-price-error\/","url_meta":{"origin":182661,"position":5},"title":"Microsoft issuing refunds after Forza Horizon 4 & 5 bundle price error","date":"November 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Forza Horizon 4 and 5 Premium Editions Bundle was spotted for mere pennies on the Swedish Xbox Store last week, but Microsoft is now issuing refunds and revoking access for players who took advantage of the error.Two excellent Forza Horizon games and all of their DLC for less than\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","img":{"alt_text":"forza horizon 4 5 dlc refunds","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.google.com\/imgs\/l\/134707\/forza-horizon-4-5-dlc-refunds.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.videogameschronicle.com\/files\/2023\/01\/forza-horizon-5-s.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182661"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182661\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}