Several members of the Forza Horizon 5 development team at Playground Games have left to found a new studio: Maverick Games.
Maverick Games, based in Leamington Spa, UK, will be developing “a new, premium open-world game for consoles and PC.”
A core team of eight founding members of Maverick Games have been announced, all but two have had working experience at Playground:
- Mike Brown (Forza Horizon 5 creative director) – Creative Director and Studio Head
- Harinder Sangha (Co-studio head, Sumo Digital Leamington) – COO
- Tom Butcher – Executive Producer
- Matt Craven – CTO
- Gareth Harwood – Content Director
- Fraser Strachan – Audio Director
- Ben Penrose (Sharkmob London, but previously acts as Studio Art Director at Playground) – Art Director
- Elly Marshall (previously Experience Design Director at EA) – UX/UI Director
Mike Brown and Tom Butcher are particular public faces at Playground Games, appearing regularly on Forza’s monthly streams. This should explain Brown’s absence, as well as a no-show from a particular character named Tommy Bargains, during the past couple of months’ livestreams.
Maverick has received “significant seed funding” and currently working on their new open-world game.
“For players, we’re already at work on an exciting ultra-high quality title,” said Brown. “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 is currently recruiting.