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Forza Horizon developers form AAA studio Maverick Games

Maverick Games is a new studio from ex-leaders at Playground Games.

Donovan Erskine

January 10, 2023 9:55 AM

Maverick Games

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It’s commonplace for developers to leave their long-held studio positions to forge their own path with a new group. That is exactly the case with a couple of higher-ups at Playground Games, who have left the Forza Horizon and Fable developer to start their own studio. Mike Brown and several other Playground veterans have formed Maverick Games, a new AAA gaming studio.

GamesIndustry.biz published a report this morning that revealed that Maverick Games had been established by a team of ex-Playground Games developers. Mike Brown is leading the team which also includes Tom Butcher, Matt Craven, Gareth Harwood, and Fraser Strachan. The group all comes from high-level roles such as executive producer, content director, and audio director. Harinder Sangha serves as COO and Elly Marshall has been brought on as UX/UI Director.

GI.biz also spoke with Brown to get more insight behind the creation of Maverick Games. “[In 2021] we shipped Forza Horizon 5, which was a thrill to work on,” he told the publication. “As much as I had an amazing journey at Playground, I was asking myself, what's next? Do I stick with this fun, good job? Or do I look for other opportunities?

Brown also said that the team at Maverick Games is encouraged to take creative risks with their projects. There’s no word on what the team will make first, but our newly created Maverick Games topic page will have all future news on the studio’s operations.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a young journalist from Maryland, who likes to game. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge Scream nerd and film fanatic that will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_