The racing game genre could soon see a major new rival emerge. Several studios founded by former Playground Games developers are currently working on ambitious open-world racing titles that may challenge Forza Horizon’s dominance.
One of them is Maverick Games, founded by former Forza Horizon 5 creative director Mike Brown. The studio previously confirmed it was developing a large-scale open-world driving game, and it has now started teasing a full reveal. Fans believe the announcement could happen during next week’s State of Play, as the studio launched a countdown stream featuring a 2003 FIAT Multipla that lines up perfectly with Sony’s presentation.
Meanwhile, former Playground Games boss Gavin Raeburn, one of the key creators behind the Forza Horizon series, is also developing a new racing project through his studio Lighthouse Games. In an interview with Forbes, he said he wants to create “the next generation of racing games” and suggested Xbox limited his ability to innovate within the Horizon franchise.
«I felt I’d gone as far as I could with Horizon. It was going to continue to be successful, but I wanted to do more, and I couldn’t really do that at Xbox. I couldn’t add what I wanted to Horizon. I couldn’t change it», — Raeburn explained.
According to him, Lighthouse Games aims to deliver the same kind of leap for the genre that Forza Horizon once achieved after Dirt 2. The studio is backed by Tencent and staffed by veterans from Playground Games and Codemasters.
Raeburn also hinted that modern racing games have started losing their innovative edge. In his opinion, even Playground Games has become somewhat too comfortable with its success.
Besides Lighthouse and Maverick Games, Ubisoft’s Ivory Tower is also preparing a new entry in The Crew series. As a result, Forza Horizon’s dominance in the open-world racing genre could soon face real competition.
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