Published , by Donovan Erskine
Published , by Donovan Erskine
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.